2009 Promising Projects — Nurturing Community Arts

In the spring of 2009, the Grand Rapids Community, Steelcase and Frey Foundations convened the area’s major arts institutions to begin a conversation on the impacts the recession was having on their organizations and to discover what possibilities might emerge as short- and long-term strategies to foster continued vitality and growth of the sector. The main concept that emerged in that and subsequent meetings was of a collective marketing effort focused on building audience by emphasizing the diverse array of accessible art and cultural offerings in the community. In the spring of 2010, a new web portal (www.whatsyourartgr.com) will be unveiled as part of a short-term marketing campaign that will provide a dynamic web-based repository of arts and cultural events in the Grand Rapids community and incorporates social media tools. The Arts Council of Greater Grand Rapids is taking the lead in coordinating the sector’s involvement to ensure it remains a robust and vibrant resource. Evaluation metrics have been built into the site in order to measure impacts of the campaign.

Support for this effort is hoped to not only build the organizational capacity of the Arts Council but also strengthen its role within the arts community. The success of this campaign will evidence growth in arts audiences and expose more residents to the rich array of arts and cultural offerings in the region.