2015-264-E Arts - Hillsborough Arts Council Arts Grant

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DocuSign Envelope ID: 5458DB77-2A09-49AA-8780-A2B5598E356E Narrative The Hillsborough Last Friday Art Walk is a premier recurring event for Hillsborough and Orange County. We have had visitors tell us that they go to many art walks throughout the triangle and find that this is their favorite because unlike other towns this art walk is truly walk- able, between the art venues and the restaurants. It is an event which draws visitors from Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Pittsboro, Cary, Raleigh, Burlington, Mebane, Durham and other surrounding communities. During the regular summer Last Fridays Art Walk over 1000 people attend the Last Fridays Art Walk and during the extended season we estimate 500-600 people attend the Art Walk. The attendance is steadily growing. The Last Friday's Art Walk is held on the last Friday of each month from 6 - 9 pm from January through November. This year the November Art Walk will be held the first weekend in December and called the Holiday Art Walk so that it does not fall on Thanksgiving weekend as in the past. The regional artists exhibiting their works in Hillsborough galleries invite their collectors to Hillsborough thus increasing new visitors to Hillsborough on a routine basis. Many people who attend the Last Fridays Art Walk return to Hillsborough for additional visits to participating art venues, have lunch or dinner and see all that Hillsborough has to offer. Each venue has a new exhibit each month attracting new visitors to each event. In this way the arts continue to be an economic engine for the town Of Hillsborough. We estimate that though there are many Hillsborough visitors, the exhibiting artists from other areas bring in the majority of visitors that are tourists. Each of the 10 venues count between 100 to 450 visitors per event but we have no way of knowing how many of those are repeat counts between the venues on any given Last Friday Art Walk. The restaurants are always full to capacity for these events. Heather Delisle attends most Last Fridays Art Walks to see what the overall attendance is at the openings and participating Last Fridays Art Walk venues check in periodically to share their impressions of the monthly event. We also keep track of how many brochures are taken and the online traffic to the Last Fridays Art Walk page on the Hillsborough Arts Council's website. An annual brochure with a map is printed each year and distributed to all the venues. The map is also on our website along with a description of all the offerings for each venue at each monthly event. In addition we have a contract with WUNC for regular spots throughout the year at discounted rates by joining together to fill the commitments for the 20 percent discount. We also run print ads during the season to help promote the art openings. and have a frequent advertising discount with the Durham Herald. and News and Observer to reach throughout the triangle area. (Please see sample ad)