Company: WestShore Plaza
Headquarters: Tampa, Florida
Industry: Retail Shopping Center
Company Size: Midsize (annual revenues of $50 million to $250 million)
"The arts enrich and stimulate growth in our community….Our partnerships with the
arts are mutually beneficial, far exceeding our expectations."
- Andrew Galbraith, Managing Partner
Objectives
To increase traffic, to demonstrate its dedication to the community, and to
increase access to the arts.
Process
- WestShore Plaza partnered with the Florida Watercolor Society to present
Colors of Spring, an exhibition of works by Society members. It provided
space for the exhibition and commissioned a watercolor entitled A Tampa Bay
Original, variations of which were incorporated into all of the WestShore’s
seasonal marketing and promotional materials. The company also produced and sold
prints, tote bags, and baseball caps featuring reproductions of the watercolor,
and donated a portion of the sales to youth arts organizations.
- As part of Tampa’s citywide Tour of Turtles, a public exhibition of
individually designed turtle sculptures, the retail center invited artist
Josette Urso to create WestShore’s turtle in the Center to give the public an
understanding of the creative process.
- The company sponsors, in its facility, the annual Fiesta del Sol, a
month-long arts festival celebrating Hispanic heritage that includes Flamenco
dancing, cigar rolling, and Spanish guitar playing and singing.
- WestShore also sponsored a competition among students from the Ringling
School of Art and Design, Sarasota, Florida, to design and construct sculptures
for the center’s three indoor fountains. WestShore provided a stipend for
materials, hosted a reception for the winners, and gave each a $500 award.
Results
These partnerships with the arts and the resulting media coverage have increased
traffic and sales. WestShore Plaza has also heightened awareness of, and
involvement with, the arts by making them more accessible to the general public.
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