Sunday, December 20, 2009
Arts & Extras: Arts council to bring back '4040'
Arts Council of the Blue Ridge
The promotion cost the Arts Council of the Blue Ridge $13,700.
Arts & Extras column
Mike Allen, arts columnist
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The Arts Council of the Blue Ridge is so pleased with the results of its "40 + 40 ... an arts and culture explosion" promotion this past fall that not only does it intend to continue the event next year, the council is founding another one in the spring based on the same approach.
Arts council Executive Director Laura Rawlings said "4040" (what the council calls it for short) encompassed 132 events, 60 of which were free. Counting audiences at each event, the council estimates a total attendance of 30,000, and ticket sales of $320,000.
"4040" packaged several events by various arts organizations that took place between Oct. 1 and Nov. 9 and promoted them as a festival and tourist attraction.
This was the second year of the promotion, but the first in which the council partnered with hotels and advertised to potential visitors outside the region.
The council arranged for four hotels to offer "4040 Fall Get-Away Packages." Only two reported selling them -- the Hotel Roanoke sold 15, and the Hampton Inn in Salem sold 60. Visitors came from 15 states, including Florida, Texas and New York. The council estimated the sales and accompanying spending by visitors brought $21,045 into the Roanoke Valley's economy.
"We're very happy with these figures for a first time effort," Rawlings wrote in an e-mail.
The promotion cost the council $13,700, some of which was covered by local government and state grants and sponsorships. The Roanoke Times provided $9,000 in in-kind advertising.
Rawlings said the arts council ultimately came out about $4,400 ahead, though the money will go right into the next set of promotions.
The council intends for next year's "4040" event to tie into the 75th anniversary of the Blue Ridge Parkway. One of the member organizations, Southwest Virginia Ballet Co., has already proposed creating a dance festival to go with next fall's event, Rawlings said.
Things went so well with the Hampton Inn-Salem partnership that it will serve as the official hotel for the arts council's spring promotion, "Rising Stars: A New Constellation of Arts and Culture."
"Rising Stars" will be similar to "4040," with promotional booklets, a Web site and calendar, and hotel packages. It's intended to dovetail with a new statewide program, "Minds Wide Open: Virginia Celebrates Women in the Arts," that takes place in the spring, and will highlight events with the program in the Roanoke and surrounding regions.
The arts council recently received a $5,000 state tourism grant to help with "Rising Stars."
However, one element of this year's "4040" had disappointing results.
The arts council attempted to rescue the Roanoke Arts Festival, canceled by the city after two unprofitable years, by selling festival passes that gave ticket holders admission to several high-profile events over five days during the first October weekend, such as the Big Lick Blues Festival and the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra season opener. Though individual events did reasonably well, only 11 of the $57.50 Roanoke Arts Festival passes sold.
There may yet be another attempt at an arts festival, but don't expect it soon. Rawlings said that the council is considering organizing a single-day, single-location festival to take place in spring, but if it happens, it won't be until 2011.
For more information on the arts council, call 342-5790 or visit www.theartscouncil.org; on "Rising Stars," visit risingstarsinthearts.com; and on "Minds Wide Open," visit vamindswideopen.org.
RSO bucks declining audience trends
On Dec. 9, the National Endowment for the Arts released a study detailing audience trends for many kinds of art events. Almost all the data, taken in 2008, show that the percentage of adults attending events such as classical music and jazz concerts, dance recitals and art museums has shrunk since 2002.
But that's not the case with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra.
A statement from the RSO said the orchestra has seen subscription increases in the past four years, including a 316 percent increase in subscriptions to its "Picnic at the Pops" series, and a 37 percent increase in subscribers who buy "Symphony-to-the-Max," the package that includes all RSO's concerts. The statement puts much credit at the feet of artistic director David Stewart Wiley for exploring ways to bring in diverse audiences.
RSO Executive Director Beth Pline said that so far this fiscal year, the symphony is operating in the black. The RSO reported a record 1,600 tickets sold for its Oct. 5 season opener, featuring guest violinist Natasha Korsakova.
The symphony's next concert, titled "Sounds of Life!" featuring Mozart, Dvorak and the Virginia premiere of a new clarinet concerto, will be performed 7 p.m. Jan. 25 at the Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre.
For more information call 343-9127 or visit www.rso.com.
On the Arts blog
I've been on vacation this past week, but I'll be back Monday. Come see new arts and culture happenings at blogs.roanoke.com/arts.
