Jeremiah Alvarado
Four marketing support requests were on the table at the City Advertising and Promotion Commission’s March 31 meeting, one got thumbs down, and one will be resubmitted.
The first was a request from Devin Henderson of the ES Chamber of Commerce asking for postage to mail Chamber Visitor Guides to state welcome and visitor centers that had requested them. It swiftly died on the table with commissioner James DeVito describing the guide as “out of date” and saying that dimension of the magazine could be more efficient by being smaller. Commissioner Nick Roberts also voiced dissent saying he had asked the Chamber to correct his business’s phone number on their website on multiple occasions. He said if they couldn’t care enough to change it there was no reason for the commission to care about their product.
Jeff Danos, director of the Eureka Springs Historical Museum, requested marketing support for Voices of Eureka’s Silent City and a second event called Witches’ Escape, for $5,000 and $3,000 respectively. Voices is an annual event where locals act the parts of prominent Eureka Springs residents who have passed to educate visitors of the history of town. Witches’ Escape is an event that consists of women dressing as witches and participating in activities downtown.
Danos said the marketing support for Voices was larger due to a pamphlet needing to be printed for the event. He told commissioners Witches’ Escape only had one run in 2019 but he had hopes to expand the experience to tie in the stories of natural healers.
Motions to approve marketing support for both events passed unanimously. Chair Jeff Carter asked that Danos return in a future workshop to give an update on how the museum is doing as a visitor center for the CAPC. Besides the marketing support the museum receives $600 per month from the CAPC.
Out in Eureka organizer Jay Wilks also received marketing support for Diversity Weekend in the amount of $5,000. He also requested that commissioners approve extra funding to get an ad paid for that was run in the Eureka Springs Independent in November 2021.
Wilks told commissioners he had received marketing support in 2020 for Diversity Weekend that was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He said he had been advised by previous employees of the CAPC that the earmarked funds would rollover to 2021. Wilks said that the ad had been printed as a schedule for the smaller Diversity Weekend in 2021 and had received good response. He also said he was publishing another ad as a schedule for last weekend’s upcoming Spring Diversity Weekend.
Commissioners told Wilks that he had been ill advised about the funds rolling over for use and conversation first focused on the original marketing support request for $5,000. Carter questioned whether the Independent had the required distribution of beyond a 2-hour radius for CAPC marketing support to be used. Commissioners Carol Wright and DeVito said due to its publications being placed in Visitor and Welcome Centers across Arkansas that it had the distribution required.
Wilks also told commissioners that the schedule in the Independent is used by visitors, and Out in Eureka points them to it or a separately printed schedule for Diversity Weekend events.
The original motion for $5,000 made by DeVito carried unanimously. Commissioners Autumn Slane and Roberts suggested to approve another $5,000, seeing the marketing request had two events listed. Discussion followed on whether Wilks would need to submit a separate request for support. A motion carried 4-2 with DeVito and Patrick Burnett voting no, citing procedural requirements. Carter was the final Yes vote and said he didn’t want to have to return for another request later.
The final marketing support requests came from Opera in the Ozarks with Wright going over the success of a recital held in the Aud in March and the Opera’s wish to hold two more recitals. The requests were for $2,500 each and were for a recital in late April and another in May. Wright told commissioners the average cost of the recitals is around $6,000.
DeVito noticed on one of the application pages that a listed use of funds would be to pay a portion of artist fees. He said that the money could only be used for marketing. Commissioners questioned if the Opera would need to resubmit the request. DeVito suggested tearing the page off the request that mentioned items not fundable by marketing support and to make it clear how those funds could be used. In the end, commissioners decided to approve the first request of $2,500 and the Opera would resubmit the request for the second round of support for the next meeting. The vote was 4-0-1 with Wright abstaining.
Music in the Park gets name change and more funding
Auditorium Operation and Marketing Manager Molly Horton gave a positive report on recent shows in the auditorium. Between the Marshall Tucker and Lyle Lovett, total profit for the Aud was $6,079.15 with both shows packing the venue.
The biggest item, though, had to do with Music in the Park. Horton provided commissioners with a proposed budget of $35,500 for the event renamed to Balm of Life Series. She said the budget encompassed bands in the park, Drumming in the Park, Dancing in the Park, as well as marketing. The series runs from April through September with Drumming in the Park on the first weekend of the month, Dancing in the Park on the second, and bands playing 13 other weekends with a looser schedule to allow for more than two days of music if weather permits.
The budget line items had been combined in line item #5051 for Music in the Park and included consolidating #5037 for Drumming in the Park and #5032 for Fat Tire Festival due to Parks not holding it this year. The original budgeted amount for Music in the Park had been $25,000 and did not include marketing. A motion to approve the proposed budget passed unanimously.
Paradise gets CAPC go ahead for website update
Tourism Director Madison Dawson gave an update on Request for Proposal to update the CAPC website. She told commissioners that Paradise Marketing’s proposal was the only one at the table out of two, saying the other proposal had been disqualified because they would not use open-source code to build the website and it would take longer for it to be built. Paradise’s proposal listed the finished product in October.
In the 2022 budget, $62,000 is budgeted for website maintenance and Dawson told commissioners that $22,000 would be needed to maintain the website while the site is rebuilt leaving the other $40,000 to be used to rebuild the website. Dawson said the request required a total of $100,000 to build the site meaning the commission would need to approve another $60,000 to match. She assured commissioners the money was available in reserve funds.
Burnett emphasized the importance of the website as a marketing platform due to its ability to tie in with booking, and state websites, as well as the need for well-done Search Engine Optimization. Burnett noted that any business the CAPC hired to rebuild the site could not start from scratch and would need to make sure all content from the past was included in the revamped site. It was also noted that Paradise Marketing would be using open-source code and that there would be backend access for the CAPC.
Motion to approve the extra $60,000 for Paradise Marketing passed unanimously. Burnett suggested that a committee be made of commissioners to make sure the website is built to the parameters the CAPC requires.
Other Items
- Dawson presented commissioners a procedure for refilling a vacant seat, saying that previously the commission did not have such a procedure. The procedure, after input from commissioners, would require advertising the opening and wrapping up interviews and vote within 30 days.
- An update on 2022 Folk Fest was given with dates Nov. 10, 11, and 12 with the possibility of events on the 13th. Booking for headliners is soon to begin. The Barefoot Ball will be on the 10th and the plan is to have an art fair in the Auditorium basement on that Friday and Saturday.
- The financial report for January and February showed collections in the black compared to last year and compared to the budget. Year-to-Date collection totals at the end of February were $82,700 over budget and when up $89,230 when compared to the same time in 2021.