Hilton Head Spirit

As a youth, I spent many spring breaks on Hilton Head Island so I really like the spirit and tone of this piece about the Heritage tournament and sponsorship.

New York City Opera, Rufus Wainwright and LVMH

We hear that LVMH will be the sponsor of the New York City Opera's opening gala on Thursday, November 5, 2009 with Rufus Wainwright!

New York's Performing Arts at a Crossroads, Crain's

This morning I attended the Future of New York City: New York's Performing Arts at a Crossroads conference presented by Crain's and Columbia University School of the Arts. It was extremely interesting and I have several notes that I will share in the next few days. In the meantime, here is a snippet of a breakout session, The Major Institutions: How Size Matters.

My takeaway: There is a HUGE communication gap between performing arts organizations in New York and corporations.

Edible Garden Tour

I know that edible garden tours aren't new, but why not create an edible garden tour across the U.S. which would include botanical gardens, local schools, local chefs, and volunteers? Actually, the pieces are already in place. It's just a matter of organizing a smart platform for the tour. Hey, think of it as the traveling "Coachella" for foodies and gardeners! Oh, and don't forget to allocate a percentage of ticket sales to go back to a nonprofit.

Here are possible revenue streams:
- Ticket sales, including VIP tickets
- Sponsorship**: Food & beverage companies, plant/seed companies, financial industry, etc
- Advertising
- Book sales
- Workshops
- Vendor fees


**According to research, "Most food gardeners are women (54 percent); 45 years of age and older (68 percent); college graduates (43 percent); live in the South (29 percent), Midwest (26 percent), West (23 percent), and Northeast (22 percent); and live in households with annual incomes of $50,000 and over (38%), married households (64%), households with no
children at home (67%), and two-person households (40%)."

Furthermore, "Households today are growing their own food for a number of reasons: for better-tasting food (58 percent), to save money on food bills (54 percent), for better quality food (51 percent), and to grow food they know is safe (48 percent). A total of 34 percent of food gardening households say that the current recession or economic downturn has motivated them to grow food this year. When asked how much it has motivated them to grow vegetables, fruit, berries, or herbs this year, they responded “very much” (14 percent) or “a fair amount” (20 percent)."

Disney Blogs

The Los Angeles Times reports that The Disney theme parks launched a new blog.

According to Craig Dezern who oversees the blog as vice president of public relations for Disney theme parks, readers are able to comment on posts. He is quoted as saying, “The comments section is not the cheering section.” Well said!

Tell a Gal PAL, The Allstate Foundation's Public Awareness Campaign on Domestic Violence

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and The Allstate Foundation just kicked-off another public awareness campaign called Tell a Gal P.A.L.®. PAL is an acronym for ‘Pass it on, Act, and Learn’. The campaign is designed to get the public speaking about domestic violence and economic abuse.

In addition, The Allstate Foundation is encouraging people to drop off nearly new women's business suits to benefit survivors from September 28 to October 9 at select Allstate locations across the country. Donated suits will be given to local domestic violence organizations and Dress for Success affiliates to outfit domestic violence survivors with confidence as they enter or re-enter the workforce.

Learn more about the campaign here on Facebook.

Momentum

A smart way to keep the momentum going for a series of events is to talk about them the next week. MoMA held their first MoMA Mixx dance series last Saturday and they posted about the experience here and here.

Based on the pictures, it looks like the first event was a success.