What are the origins of the ArtPrize
Pitch Night events?
Christian Gaines: It’s necessary to cre-
ate a foundation of understanding that
Experience Grand Rapids and ArtPrize
work very closely together on lots of
things at lots of levels, and Pitch Night
is just one of those. As organizations, we
work hand-in-hand, which is very much
in the spirit of the collaborative approach
that people in Grand Rapids have.
ArtPrize Pitch Night is five years old
now, and it’s really ramped up in the last
year or two. It is an idea that captures the
entrepreneurial approach that is in keep-
ing with Grand Rapids in a lot of ways.
We wanted to create a program that
wasn’t only an informational or ori-
entation program around ArtPrize. We
wanted to create something with an
outcome and a level of excitement that
would involve the local arts community
and a local partner, but would also be
entertaining to someone who was just
walking in off the street.
That’s how the pitch night concept
was born. It’s something that moves
along pretty quickly, and it’s something
that has an outcome. One of the artists
will win $5,000 and guaranteed space in
Grand Rapids during ArtPrize.
Dave Nitkiewicz: ArtPrize has been a
huge driver for visitation for Grand
Rapids. His organiza-
tion has partnered
with ArtPrize, an
annual arts festival
that attracts 400,000
people to the
Nitkiewicz
Michigan city, to host
Pitch Night events
around the country.
Think “Shark Tank”
for art: Artists from
the host communi-
ties pitch concepts
Gaines
for large-scale pieces
for designated sites in Grand Rapids. A
panel of judges selects a winner who
receives a gr ant to make that artistic
vision a reality.
Nitkiewicz and ArtPrize Executive
Director Christian Gaines answered our
questions about this approach to get-
ting audiences engaged.
ArtPrize exhibition in Grand Rapids
Rapids, and we really wanted to share
its success with the tourism community
more broadly. When we started collabo-
rating, they provided a really wonderful
platform for us to get out to our clients
in various cities. It’s very much an
ArtPrize-led event, but our role as the
tourism bureau is to be very supportive.
What does planning these events look
like for your organizations?
Gaines: Obviously, how we decide which
cities we go to is important, and there
are a lot of variables there. Do we have
a strong cultural partner in that city?
Those cultural partners are important
to us because they help us source local,
industry professionals that are part of
the selection panels. They also help us
promote the event to the artists who are
submitting proposals for consideration,
as well as for an audience.
It’s an efficient, customized way for
us to be able to do something that’s
turnkey as well as being simultaneously
unique city-to-city. It’s something we
can drop into a city and yield very dif-
ferent results each time.
Nitkiewicz: ArtPrize brings artists from
around the country and the world
to Grand Rapids, and over the years
they’ve developed those relationships
with artists that can ultimately cham-
pion this very grassroots approach
within their respective communities.
Having that local champion really helps.
What I’ve tried to do is reach out to
tour operators who are interested in
seeing some of the local art. So, my
role there is to bring clients to [their]
community-based [Pitch Night] event,
and because it’s local, it helps for us to
be able to partner with ArtPrize.
It adds value to an ordinary sales call
because clients get to meet and learn
about five artists in their local commu-
nity. They attend an event in their own
hometown.
I like being able to give them an expe-
rience and show the value of Grand
Rapids. It takes away the sales pitch.
ArtPrize has a memorable community
event, and they’ve been excellent with
allowing us to piggyback on that.
What makes these events effective at com-
municating your organizations’ messages?
Gaines: We feel good about our social
media presence, and original content is
an important part of what we do. One of
the great things about every Pitch Night
is that it yields original artists and origi-
nal art, and it’s something we can talk
about and cover, and our cultural part-
ners can talk about and cover, too. It’s
authentic, and it relates closely to our
mission and guiding principles. You go
into [Pitch Night] talking about art, and
you come out of it talking about new art.
Nitkiewicz: I think communicating what
Pitch Night is, why [guests] should care
and the follow-through of getting people
to attend has been an obstacle. With that
said, we’re really starting to polish it. We
had way more attend this year than last
year, and we hope that trend continues.
This interview has been edited for
length and clarity. For more information
about Seattle, go to visitseattle.org. For
more information about Grand Rapids,
go to experiencegr.com.
NTAonline.com
19