The art of the draw

Art festivals, such as ArtFest Fort Myers on Feb. 6 and 7, draw huge crowds of locals and cultural tourists. COURTESY PHOTO Outdoor art festivals have long provided a plein air experience for the cultural set. Favorite summertime happenings in northern climes, they draw collectors and art aficionados to our part of the world throughout the winter and spring.

The happy fallout of this economic impact lands on the surrounding community. From gas stations to hotels, from mom-and-pop shops to local national retail chain affiliates, everybody wins.

From Marco Island to Englewood, art festivals in Southwest Florida are a welcome attraction for visitors and residents alike, and a more than welcome guest for a host community’s local businesses.

“When arts festivals come, folks stay in hotels and rent booth spaces. And then you have patrons and artists spending money for essentials and food, as well as spending in hotels,” said Lydia Black, executive director of Lee County Alliance for the Arts. “Art festivals are also instrumental in attracting families to communities.”

BLACK Ms. Black believes that communities that have ongoing art festivals have a leg up in drawing potential residents.

Judy Malbuisson, chief executive of the Arts & Humanities Council of Charlotte County, sited a study showing that all of the arts — not just festivals — amounted to an annual impact of $21 million in Charlotte County in 2007. Attendance at cultural events in Charlotte that year totaled nearly half a million people, she added.

Formal studies and hard statistics about festivals notwithstanding, it appears obvious that they are a good thing for communities through Southwest Florida.

“For the City of Punta Gorda, it’s a no brainer,” said John Wright, president of the Punta Gorda Chamber of Commerce. “Whenever we host a fine arts festival, the entire business community benefits. The arts are a very strong economic driver, even in tough economic times.”

MALBUISSON Lisa Swirda of the Downtown Naples Association had similar sentiments. “It definitely has a great impact, I’ll tell you that,” she said. “People call all the time asking about art festivals.” Many, she added, won’t make airplane or hotel reservations before finding out when the big festivals are scheduled.

Michele Valencourt, executive director of the Visual Arts Center in Punta Gorda, heads up the annual Peace River National Arts Festival and said a survey of more than 300 festival goers last year showed more than 45 percent had come from outside Charlotte County. “That’s good news to any county hosting fine art festivals,” she said, adding that for the upcoming festival, “We have a block of 80 rooms at the Sheraton Four Points (in Punta Gorda) and the Microtel (in Port Charlotte)” reserved for exhibitors.

HAMILTON Elaine Hamilton is the executive director of the United Arts Council of Collier County, a sort of chamber of commerce for the arts. “It’s impossible to track,” she said of the overall economic impact of any given festival or the festival industry as a whole. But she knows full well that people come to town especially for some of Naples’ better-known art festivals. At the same time, Ms. Hamilton expresses concern about an overabundance of smaller art festivals. “It seems that every shopping center has one,” she said, “which can dilute the effectiveness of them to a certain extent.”

Even so, each event makes money for its artists and for nearby businesses.

Nationwide in 2008, art festivals created 5.7 million jobs and generated $166 billion in economic impact. COURTESY PHOTO Sharon McAllister is the executive director of ArtFest Fort Myers. Celebrating its 10th anniversary the weekend of Feb. 6-7, ArtFest brings with it entertainment and an array of art activities for children in addition to the fine art on display and for sale in booths set up along the Caloosahatchee riverfront downtown. Though the festival has a strong VIP component, offering exclusive opportunities for the upscale set, its family-friendly emphasis and outreach to young artists ensure that the event appeals to a wide audience.

There’s never been a formal study commissioned for ArtFest, but Ms. McAllister is certain of its positive effect on the local economy. As many as 300 hotel rooms are booked as a result of the festival, she said. “And locally,” she added, “we pay a payroll, pay rent and buy supplies. Our own (operating) budget is $300,000.” (The rule-of-thumb measurement from the national Americans for the Arts organization is that nonprofit art festivals should expect a seven-fold return on investment.)

Kathy Bostwick is president of the Florida Watercolor Society and was responsible for selecting a location for the group’s 38th annual juried exhibition last fall. She chose the Visual Arts Center in Punta Gorda for the juried exhibit to hang. But when she considered hotel accommodations, Punta Gorda was still in the process of rebuilding after Hurricane Charley, and hotel accommodations, though promising, were not sure. So she turned to another arts-magnet locale — Bonita Springs — to house visitors from across the state for the instructional component of the event. “We occupied 350 (Bonita Springs hotel) beds over the week,” she said.

Ms. Bostwick points to other local service providers who benefit from art festivals. “Every artist in the show has to get a painting there somehow,” she said, so FedEx and UPS get business from those who cannot hand-deliver their works. The artists within driving distance who do make their own deliveries, she added, have to eat and sometimes stay overnight.

“I know Presseller’s (deli in Punta Gorda) got a lot of business out of it,” she said. Sunart Gallery got some business cleaning up frames that had been banged in shipping, she said. And a transportation company had to be hired to bus people from the exhibit site in Punta Gorda to the classes in Bonita Springs.

Likely Florida’s biggest ally for art festivals is its balmy winter weather, which draws both locals and visitors. But that fair-weather ally turned fair-weather foe for this year’s Cape Coral Festival of the Arts. Frigid temperatures and bonechilling rain kept the usual crowds away, while exhibitors and festival volunteers suffered the elements. The number of attendees was halved due to the inclement weather. It’s a part of the experience art fair promoters and exhibitors have come to accept.

Ms. Black, with the alliance in Fort Myers, sums it up this way: Art festivals are extremely important to a community, as economic drivers and as enhancement to the overall cultural climate. “The bottom line,” she said, “is that art festivals impact communities in ways that other events and venues may not be able to.” Statistics from the Americans for the Arts, she added, show that nationwide in 2008, art festival created 5.7 million jobs and generated $166 billion.

“The arts are essential for the health and vitality of our communities,” Ms. Black said. “They make a community.” 

art festivals

>> Some art festivals coming to Southwest
Florida
Naples Invitational Art fest
Benefitting Eden Autism Florida
Jan. 30-31
Fleischmann Park, Naples
www.edenartfest.com
ArtFest Fort Myers
Feb. 6-7
Downtown Fort Myers
www.artfestformyers.com
7th Biennial National Art Exhibition
Feb. 6-March 12
210 Maud St. (across from Fishermen’s Village),
Punta Gorda
www.visualartcenter.org
Coconut Point Art festival
Feb. 13-14
Coconut Point, Estero
www.artfestival.com
Naples National Art Festival
Feb. 20-21
Cambier Park and Eighth Street, Naples
www.naplesart.org
Peace River National Arts Festival
Feb. 28-March 1
Laishley Park, Punta Gorda
www.visualartcenter.org
Mercato Fine Arts Festival
March 6-8
Mercato, U.S. 41 and Vanderbilt Beach Road,
North Naples
www.napesart.org
The Naples Masters
March 6-7
Collection at Vanderbilt
www. Boulderbrook, net
Bonita Springs National Art Festival
March 13-14
The Promenade at Bonita Bay
www.artinusa.com/bonita
Downtown Naples Festival of the Arts
March 27-28
Fifth Avenue South, Naples
www.naplesart