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HomeMy WebLinkAboutInformation Only 060623AGENDA INFORMATION UPDATE June 6, 2023 5:00 PM, I.Information Update I.A ACRA Destination Marketing Report I.B 2023 Aspen Public Art Plan May2023_DMReport.pdf 2023AspenPublicArtPlanMOI.docx 1 1 May 2023 Destination Marketing Report for Council Destination Marketing Staff Report Excerpt from ACRA’s Board of Directors Packet: Destination Marketing: The Destination Marketing campaign is live and in market as of May 1st, you can see an example of the creative below. We have begun our newsletter audit through our agency TwoSix Digital, they are evaluating all newsletters sent out by the organization and we have implemented the changes to the Destination newsletter and deployed those with our newsletter that went out the 3rd week of May. The finance committee met on May 24th and approved the Q1 financials for DM. The budget is currently pacing 3.6% above projections. Eliza Voss has been awarded Certified Destination Management Executive credential from Destinations International. She has been working toward this since 2019 and joins Debbie in this achievement. Eliza also attended AdventureElevate in Portland, Maine earlier this month, a conference we hope to be able to host in Aspen in the future. ACRA has partnered with Lamont Associates to create a new pipeline of third-party meeting planners and contacts for future group programs. The sales team published a new blog, “10 fun facts about hosting your meeting in Aspen.” This blog is intended for meeting planners to become more aware of Aspen and our unique mountain town history, rather than just looking at capacity charts or how to get here. All wedding planner attendees have been confirmed for the August Wedding Familiarization Trip(fam). Progress has been made on the agenda and securing vendor partners to support the fam. The team will host our first ACRA Hotel Group Sales Coffee Chat at the end of this month. This will be an in person bi – annual gathering to share ACRA updates, property specific updates, and a roundtable discussion with our hotel partners. Occupancy Reports: April Occupancy was 37.8%, down 4.5% YOY, while average daily rate for April was up 1.5% YOY. Summer continues to pace behind in occupancy as compared to summer 2022 while ADR gains are softer but still up against 2022. Hoteliers share that the booking window has shortened and continue to be optimistic for summer. Sales Tax Reports: As of the March Consumption Tax Report, released in May of 2023, the Tourism Promotion Fund is pacing 14% above year-to-date budgeted revenues, and is up 8.2% above last year’s actual year-to-date revenues. Against March of 2022 2 the 2023 revenues were down 2.1% indicating we might be seeing a softening in consumer confidence against the strength of rate. Recent Press Coverage Website Stats Please see aspenchamber.org web statistics on the following page. 3 Month of Apr 2023 Web Activity for https://aspencham ber.org Pages/Session: 2.26 Indus try Average: 1.70 Comparison: +32.9% ▲ Bounce Rate: 43.36% Indus try Average: 57.20% Comparison: -24.2% ▼ Avg Session Duration: 00:02:19 Indus try Average: 00:01:31 Com parison: +53.7% ▲ Occupancy Data [ACRA] ADR Apr 2022 - Apr 2023 0 240 437.00 438.00 0.2%  (1) [ACRA] Paid Occupancy Apr 2022 - Apr 2023 0 24 % 39.40 %37.80 % 1 - 5 of 5 items Web Analytics Page Path L evel 2 Pageviews Unique Pageviews Avg. Time On Page Bounc /hiking -around-maroon-bells 1,192 1,060.00 00:05:18 3 /top-5-reasons-visit-aspen-spring-0 951 881.00 00:02:37 5 /everything-you-need-know-about-…852 793.00 00:04:02 3 /spring-restaurant-specials-aspen 761 677.00 00:06:29 5 /3-g reat-reasons-go-fly-fishing-as…539 493.00 00:02:23 4 Total 4,295 3,904.00 00:04:06 4 64 ,699 Sessions Average Daily Rate YOY Paid Occupancy YOY Top Blogs from aspenchamber.org/blog Emailed Monthly Repor t Compac t 2023-04-01 - 2023-04-30 4 MEMORANDUM OF INFORMATION TO:Mayor and Council FROM: Sarah Roy, Director of Red Brick Center for the Arts THROUGH: Austin Weiss, Director of Parks and Recreation Diane Foster, Assistant City Manager MEMO DATE:June 1, 2023 MEETING DATE: June 6, 2023 RE: Update on Community Engagement for Aspen Public Art Plan SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND:Through Resolution #032 Series 2023: Contract for Public Art Plan Development, City Council approved a contract with ThereSquared LLC and Stilwell Cultural Consulting LLC to lead a community engagement process to develop a public art plan. The impetus for this effort arose out of growing interests expressed by community members and organizations for more public art and associated activities in our public spaces. The City does have a small collection of artworks located in various parks which have been acquired through one-off agreements. A formalized plan will address the collection management and maintenance of these currently held works and create a known process and policies for realizing new works and art experiences in our public spaces. ThereSquared LLC and Stilwell Cultural Consulting LLC are owned by Kendall Peterson and Jill Stilwell respectively. Peterson and Stilwell bring extensive experience in public art management as well as a demonstrated deep understanding of arts and culture planning and visioning with communities. The approved scope of work within their contract included developing a thorough community engagement strategy, educational elements for the community to learn about public art, and an iterative plan development process to allow for further feedback and guidance from key stakeholders and input from the public. These cumulative efforts will result in a plan that articulates a vision statement and goals expressed by the community and outlines a policy and best practices for incorporating art in our public spaces. Public art serves a unique role in community experiences as it is accessible to all, is free of charge, can provoke discussion, creates memorable spaces, celebrates cultural heritage and history, and connects communities. Public art provides a platform for artists, creative expression, and engaging experiences. Creating Aspen’s first ever public art plan is an opportunity to think aspirational, to reflect on what makes Aspen special, and to recognize the deep cultural heritage and carry forward the Aspen spirit of innovative thinking and creativity. 5 DISCUSSION:A robust community engagement effort and overall timeline for the project has been developed. The engagement effort includes a variety of ways for people to participate. We invite everyone to join us in this exciting work and help create what this first-of-its-kind endeavor can realize. Listed below are the various community engagement approaches: Aspen Community Voice All are encouraged to visit AspenCommunityVoice.com to learn more about the effort to develop a public art plan, view upcoming events, and add comments to the guest book and forum page. We are asking visitors to upload images of their favorite piece of public art and to share what three words would they want Aspen’s public art to reflect. We plan to change the input tools over the summer and fall as we develop the vision and goals of the program so the community has an opportunity to share on various related topics and questions. Individual Interviews The consultants will be conducting one-on-one interviews with key individuals and small groups from the community to better understand the existing conditions in Aspen and their vision for the public art program. We will ask interviewees about the role public art can play within the community and how best to formulate a unique, customized public art plan for Aspen. Visioning Committee A stakeholder committee comprised of artists, art professionals, and relevant City staff are meeting monthly. The role of the committee is to guide the planning process, keeping the best interest of the community at the forefront, and serve as ambassadors to help further engage residents in the process. The committee will advise the consultants on their engagement efforts and help synthesize the findings into the final vision statement, goals, process, and policies that will be presented to Council for feedback and approval. The Visioning Committee is comprised of: Ajax Axe, Artist Lissa Ballinger, Herbert Bayer Center Sam Harvey, Artist, Art Educator and Curator Daniel Merritt, Aspen Art Museum Ann Mullins, Landscape Designer 6 Tim Sack, Designer and Art Curator Andrew Travers, Writer Brijetta Waller, Artist Lara Whitley, Artist Paul Woznicki, Art Handler, Curator, and Writer City Staff Sarah Roy, Director of Red Brick Center for the Arts Matt Kuhn, Director of Parks and Open Space Emmy Garrigus, Lodging & Commercial Core Program Manager, Community Development Department Focus Groups As topics and themes begin to emerge from research and outreach, the consultants will develop focus groups to hold more in-depth discussions on these themes. Focus groups allow the consultants to do a deeper dive around specific topics or with certain populations in Aspen. Survey Surveying is an important tool for gathering information from the broader community, sharing concepts, educating the public about public art and placemaking, and gathering quantitative and qualitative data for plan development. A survey for the public art plan will be launched June 24th and remain open throughout the summer to gather input from Aspen residents and visitors. Artful Engagements We will be hosting 4 larger events for anyone to join whether you know a lot or a little about art and public art. Education is an essential part of this community engagement effort, and these events will focus on informing about public art and public art programs as well as idea generation. June 25th: Pavement Art: A community-driven public art project in downtown Aspen. The City of Aspen and the Aspen Ideas Festival have partnered to bring this hands-on art installation to the corner of S. Mill St. and Hyman Ave. bordering the iconic Dancing Fountain and Wheeler Opera House. Designed by Roaring Fork Valley artist, Chris Erickson, this pavement mural will increase pedestrian 7 safety and engage the community in the process of making public art. The public is invited to pick up a brush and help the artist create the mural, while consultants will engage the public in a discussion about what public art is, what kinds of public art they like, and build awareness of the public art plan process. Week of June 26th: The Aspen Ideas Festival is hosting a free public session that will address the role of the arts in building strong communities. This free session will be held at the Wheeler Opera House. To secure a seat, registration is encouraged. Once confirmed, event details and registration will be posted on AspenCommunityVoice.com August 9th: Creative Exchange: An interactive conversation about public art at the Aspen Public Library. The Aspen Public Library is an ideal place to engage the community in a dialogue about public art. This event will offer interactive opportunities for participants to envision the future, share their thoughts and ideas about where public art could happen, and describe how public art could benefit the community. September (date/time TBD): Public Art Community Conversation at the Aspen Art Museum. This event will combine presentations from regional artists/experts with small table conversations to further engage the community with the public art plan. An educational, informative, and stimulating conversation will inform the vision and goals as well as build community energy around the public art plan. Timeline Below is the currently published timeline of events and plan development. As stated above, individual interviews, Visioning Committee meetings, focus groups, and survey will be occurring throughout the duration. 8 FINANCIAL IMPACTS: Through Resolution #032 Series 2023: Contract for Public Art Plan Development,City Council approved a contract with ThereSquared LLC and Stilwell Cultural Consulting LLC in the amount of $92,500. 9