August
2002
TAC:
Arts Build Downtown Trenton
Image
and Marketing
By
Gail Cohen and Anne LaBate
The
following is the fourth in a series of articles about the Trenton
Arts Connection. Your ideas and participation are welcome!
Arts
Build Downtown Trenton... A Business & Cultural Blueprint
for Action, has been developed by the Trenton Arts Connection,
and is based on the premise that culture builds communities. The
Blueprint is divided into five categories that correspond with
the community's needs and resources. Each category is composed
of large and small-scale projects that support the blueprint's
overall vision. Projects can be implemented independently, while
integrated functionally and aesthetically. Two of these categories,
Facility Development and Design and Public Art and Art Programming,
were featured in previous issues. This month's subject is Image
and Marketing.
To
be perceived as a successful community, a city must have a successful
downtown. Image and Marketing focuses on the need to create and
communicate a positive image for the downtown in order to build
new audiences. Downtown is a "product" like any other
"product" in the marketplace, and its attributes must
be communicated. However, to be successful, the marketing of a
downtown requires a holistic approach as provided by the following
blueprint projects:
- An
Arts Image Campaign for Trenton will create an advertising and
promotion campaign to improve the city's image and promote Trenton
as an arts destination, reinforcing in the public's mind, art
related activities and the forward progress being achieved.
-
The Calendar of Events provides artists and art organizations
with a reliable, free method of getting the word out to a large
and diverse audience about art events open to the public. Continued
production of "Experience the Arts-Trenton, New Jersey,"
an arts and cultural calendar of events, and an increased and
broadened distribution, will further communicate that there is
indeed an art scene in Trenton. It is an important force in building
a community of artists and improving the image of Trenton by promoting
the positive things happening here.
-
The Trenton Arts Connection Web site (www.trentonarts.org) includes
the calendar of events, the artist registry, information about
The Artists' Roundtable, a list of the arts and cultural organizations
in Trenton, available buildings, useful links, and current projects.
It is an important tool for gathering resources, sharing information,
and building new audiences, enhancing the arts community as a
whole and promoting the opportunities for artists in Trenton.
-
Installing a series of "Trenton is an Arts Destination"
Banners will help identify a specific arts area, create excitement
and build anticipation for the arts in downtown Trenton. Banners
would be tangible evidence that the larger effort to build a community
of artists in the downtown as a means of revitalization is real,
even as they also serve to guide visitors who are unfamiliar with
the city to arts venues throughout the downtown.
- "Trenton
First Fridays," successfully established in the past year
by a group of dedicated business owners, celebrates art and entertainment
in downtown Trenton. First Fridays builds business for arts organizations
and artists and private businesses, as it brings customers paying
for tickets, cover fees, or making purchases that yield a sale
or commission for the business owner and artist/arts organization.
The First Fridays project advocates fundraising efforts to facilitate
the growth of the event through entertainment, atmospheric lighting,
professional management and labor to support the volunteer efforts.
- A
Trenton film festival and screening series has the potential to
feature films in downtown Trenton that are not typically shown
in the suburban commercial theatres. Even with no commercial movie
theater in Trenton, there are both local filmmakers and venues
for showing important films (series are now sponsored by the Trenton
Public Library, and the Urban Word Cafe) that can provide this
art form the platform in Trenton that it deserves.
-
"Transforming Ordinary Downtown Spaces through Art"
is a goal that can develop a more positive image for Trenton by
choosing simple, but effective artistic approaches for ordinary
spaces. Art projects in many different locations have transformed
the environment. For instance, a series of historic photographs
could be mounted on decorative fences surrounding surface parking
facilities that tell the story of Trenton's history. Murals by
professional artists could be painted on blank walls.
These
creative transformations will encourage a new way of thinking
about Trenton as a fresh city with creative people and possibilities,
while overcoming Trenton's perceived "tarnished" image,
as stated in the Capital City Cultural Assessment.
#
# #
Next
issue: The fourth blueprint category: Support and Funding.
Gail
Cohen is the director of the Trenton Arts Connection and Anne
LaBate is President of the board of directors. Contact TAC at
609-695-8155 or TartsC@aol.com.
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