LA QUINTA, Calif. — Local arts and tourism leaders and marketers and creative professionals can learn about branding, audience development, and creative placemaking on Oct. 12 at a full-day workshop, Big Strategies and Real Tactics for Connecting Artists, Audience, and Place, at UCR Palm Desert. Registration is $75 per person and includes lunch. Register at www.cadesertarts.org/namp/.

The workshop, presented by the California Desert Arts Council and Americans for the Arts’ National Arts Marketing Project, features arts marketing experts Ben Stone of Smart Growth America and Joseph Yoshitomi of Straightforward Marketing and Consulting. Their objective is to help participants:

  • Articulate your organization’s distinctive artistic offerings to different constituencies, especially prospective patrons.
  • Develop a marketing plan for your budget.
  • Ask the right questions and take the right actions to achieve maximum exposure/engagement for minimum cost.
  • Leverage the collective power of the arts and cultural tourism marketing by collaborating to transform communities and attract the engagement of residents and visitors.

“Cultural tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing tourism markets globally,” says Scott White, President and CEO of the Greater Palm Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau. “This workshop offers a valuable opportunity for arts and culture organizations to not only fine-tune their branding strategy and marketing tactics, but also to learn how to connect with the visitor market and expand their audience.” The cultural visitor stays longer and spends more, according to Americans for the Arts’ Arts & Economic Prosperity data.

Stone and Yoshitomi have tailored a curriculum for arts leaders and marketers, as well as visual and performing artists, working in Greater Palm Springs.

Stone, director of arts and culture at Smart Growth America in Washington, D.C., leads efforts to help communities across the country better integrate arts, culture, and creative placemaking into neighborhood revitalization, equitable development, and transportation planning efforts.

Yoshitomi, principal of Straightforward Marketing and Consulting in Culver City, Calif., is former vice president of marketing strategy at TheaterMania.com, a media and technology company connecting performing arts enthusiasts with theaters around the country. He offers more than 15 years of arts administration and marketing experience, including positions at Geffen Playhouse and Geffen’s Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater.

Register at www.cadesertarts.org/namp/

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About California Desert Arts Council

The nonprofit California Desert Arts Council unifies, promotes, and empowers the arts and culture communities in the Coachella Valley region through its programs in cultural tourism, business and workforce development, and advocacy.

About Americans for the Arts’ National Arts Marketing Project

The National Arts Marketing Project, a program of Americans for the Arts, is dedicated to serving arts professionals and artists who seek to market the arts, engage audiences, and serve their communities. NAMP believes in the arts as a vital part of both an enriched, healthy life, and a strong community.

About Greater Palm Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau
The Greater Palm Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau is the official tourism agency for the entire Coachella Valley, providing sales, marketing and promotional initiatives targeted to potential leisure and convention group markets. The CVB serves more than 2,000 business partners throughout Riverside County’s nine-city region of Cathedral City, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, Indio, La Quinta, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, and Palm Springs.

About UCR Palm Desert Campus

Established as a teaching and research center, UCR Palm Desert is a catalyst for diversification of the inland desert region by providing relevant regional research, offering innovative graduate programs that attract and retain world class talent to the region, convening and creating partnerships that advance the public good, and impacting the cultural life of the community.