Recent Press
Interactive Helena arts Web site in the works
By JOHN HARRINGTON -
Independent Record -
07/14/08 Helena, Montana
While a formal roll-out of the new branding of Helena won't take place in the near future, several of the city's high-profile arts groups are working simultaneously on a Web site to debut later this summer that will allow for one-stop shopping for people looking for something to do within the arts community.
Marshall Mayer, a member of the steering committee for the branding project, said the Web site is "tangentially related" to the consultant's work that branded Helena "The West's Learning Center for the Arts."
"Obviously the branding effort will have as a major component collaborative marketing, but that's probably going to take a while to get going," Mayer said. In the meantime, he's working with the Archie Bray Foundation, Myrna Loy Center, Holter Museum of Art and Grandstreet Theatre on an interactive Web site that will feature upcoming events at those four organizations as well as other art institutions around town.
Washington consultant Roger Brooks developed the brand, and now will work with local leaders on a plan to more specifically define and implement it. The plan calls in part for a local nonprofit to be formed to guide the "Learning Center" brand.
"There will literally be a step-by-step guide for what to do next over the next few years," Mayer said.
The idea of the brand is to help develop tourism and spur economic development. Brooks maintains that successful brands are specific and offer visitors something they can't get closer to home.
The development of the brand has been tentatively distilled into four "pillars," including the arts, outdoor recreation, history and a travel component.
Helen City Commissioner Alan Peura said the idea in developing the pillars was to further define what types of arts the brand is highlighting, as well as to put more emphasis on the learning aspect.
"Rather than try to stretch the concept of 'The Art of...,' it's focusing on 'The Learning Center' as the main concept, of which the arts is one pillar," Peura said.
Ed Noonan, director of the Myrna Loy Center, said focusing the effort on calling Helena "The West's Learning Center," and removing the arts from the main brand, is fine with him.
The shorter brand "seems to roll off the tongue better," Noonan said, and arts groups will still be among the first in town to collaborate and try to raise the tide for everyone.
"It seems to open it up a bit more (to disciplines beyond the arts), but it will still primarily be driven at first by the arts," added Steven Lee, resident director of the Archie Bray Foundation.
Mayer said it's a good step to build organically upon events and community institutions that are already in place. "We really want to affirm the character of Helena as it is right now, as opposed to having something we aren't," he said. "We do want to be authentic about it."
