Leveraging the arts to market and sell our community

Breaking through the commodity orientation as a destination

• Competition is a commodity– “Content”

• Must create greater differentiation to separate ourselves from competition– “Context”

It’s so much more than “things”… it’s an orientation.

“I can’t quite put my finger on it, there was just something special about the place…it was a feeling,

an attitude, the people.”

An Accidental Tourist

Internal perceptionvs.

External perception

The role of the arts on a macro level

• Sense of place

• Creative “scenes”

• Layering of creative capital

• Perceived public value

• Community vitality and prosperity

• Enrichment of our destination

• Visit and live

The power of a collaborative mindset

How we use the arts to position Columbus

• The fabric of our community

• The arts add context

• Metropolitan sophistication

• Urban

• People decide where they want to live based upon a visit