A local arts organization just won a grant for $6,000. That sounds like small potatoes until you hear what the Arts and Culture Council for Central Oregon is going to do with the money. It’s pretty cool.
It’s sort of like the Ale Trail, but rather than following a map to the local watering holes, the arts group will create a special arts and culture trail guide showing locals and visitors the way to the region’s museums, art and entertainment venues.
The new map project will be a special collaboration of a new group called the Arts and Culture Alliance and several other regional arts and culture organizations.
If successful, Central Oregon could even get a special Scenic Byways highway designation affiliated with the map, which will encourage visitors to stop by places from the museum in Warm Springs to the Tower Theater in Bend
Director of the Arts and Culture Council, Cate O’Hagan has been working to build the new alliance for over a year, and put in for the grant several weeks ago.
“It’s a relatively small amount of money that multiplies over a large reason to create potentially big results,” said O’Hagan. “It adds a necessary component to our tourism offerings in the region that has been missing.”
The grant will be matched with $5,000 worth of support and work from the Central Oregon Visitors Association, the Deschutes County tourism organization.
“We are delighted to work with COVA to see this thing through,” said O’Hagan.
Look for the new map to roll out sometime in the next six to eight months.
This article appears in Apr 19-25, 2012.
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