San Diego Champions Art, Culture To Win Incentives
<B>San Diego Champions Art, Culture To Win Incentives</B>
By Judy Jacobs
As planners holding meeting and incentive programs in San Diego continue to search for something new and unique, the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau, in conjunction with 12 arts organizations and several other partners, has inaugurated an Art + Sol campaign to bring attention to the city's cultural institutions. These cultural institutions range from the California Center for the Arts in Escondido and the Old Globe Theater to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center and the San Diego Museum of Art, and most of them are suitable venues for offsite events.
The campaign kicked off in May--with initial funding of $180,000 supplied by the arts partners, American Express, the San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture and the CVB--and is expected to bring more attention to the city for meetings or incentives.
"We're trying to promote the fact that San Diego is sophisticated. You don't just have to go to San Francisco or New York," said Sandra Veum, director of sales at the CVB. "Also, incentives are always looking for something new and different, and culture and art can provide that."
Local San Diego destination management companies are seeing exactly that happening. "We're doing more and more with the arts," said Tracey Moran, national sales manager of PRA. "We've done things with the symphony and the Museum of Photographic Arts. We do a lot at the Old Globe Theater as well. In the daytime, we'll take groups to the Old Globe and do a behind the scenes tour, and they'll learn how things are done with makeup and staging.
"The majority of cultural events we've done have been in Balboa Park," she added. "The museum people are beginning to understand our needs as planners, and over the past two or three years, we've seen a greater number of programs incorporating the arts." Historic Balboa Park acts as the cultural heart of San Diego and boasts 15 museums and five theaters, as well as art galleries and the San Diego Zoo.
Ann Ramirez, account manager of Meeting Manager, is another local DMC executive who is seeing greater interest in the arts. "We're doing more private events in museums," she said. "The La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art hosts receptions and dinners in their courtyard. We've bought out museums in Balboa Park so guests can wander through the museums, and each has food and entertainment that is unique to that museum. We also buy out theaters and participants dine on stage, while waiters sing around them. The California Center for the Arts in Escondido and Symphony Hall are particularly good for this."
Rochelle Ferguson of Creative Connection has called on gallery owner Sue McNary, whose art gallery is located in the Hotel del Coronado, to give a luncheon presentation as part of a historical tour of the hotel.
One of the most impressive functions Ferguson's company has organized was an event for 8,000 people in Balboa Park. It had a Renaissance theme, with entertainment in six different outside areas, and all of the museums were open to the public. "This event gave a lot of exposure to the culture in the park," she said, "and what Balboa has to offer.