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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-09-12 MemorandumTO: KENAI MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS FROM: RICKY GEASE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, KENA[ CVB DATE: September 12, 2003 RE: UPDATE FOR THE KENAI CVB AND THE KENAI VISITORS AND CULTURAL CENTER Kenai CVB: In addition to this monthly update, please see the document concerning the original grant for the Kenai Visitors and Cultural Center from Board President Fred Braun and myself. The Kenai CVB was awarded a VISTA volunteer position, which will start in December 2003 and run through 2004. The three work project goals for the VISTA will be: 1) to establish a 501. c 3 organization for the museum component of the Kenai Visitors and Cultural Center; 2) work to expand www.vi presence as a premiere travel website for Kenai and the peninsula, and explore options to make the site profitable to operate on -line; 3) present a series of seminars to member and local businesses on customer service, internet marketing and business planning. Due to budget constraints, the Kenai CVB has severely restricted its 2004 destination marketing advertising for the city of Kenai, from $20,000 to less than $5,000. The next board meeting of the Kenai CVB is on Monday, September 29, at 5:30 pm, and we have tentatively scheduled an informal joint board meeting between the Kenai CVB and Kenai Chamber of Commerce boards of directors for the following day on Tuesday, September 30 at 5:30 pm to discuss the pro's and con's of possible merging organizations for 2004. Kenai Visitors and Cultural Center: Museum Summer Recap Summer 2003 was another four months of jam packed activities in the Kenai Visitors and Cultural Center's museum. Summer Interpretive Programs Our annual Summer Interpretive Programs featured 40 presentations over the course of June, July and August. On Mondays, we feature Science on the Kenai, Wednesday is Arts on the Kenai and Friday is Alaska Heritage Day. We estimate 1,000 people many visitors to our city took part, though there's always room for more, and it makes the perfect afternoon activity for your visiting clients or guests to get to know the Kenai area better. All programs are free to the public. The most popular presenter each summer is Alaska's Troubadour, Hobo Jim, who graciously plays one Wednesday a month in our conference room. gallery. Up to 130 people make Jim's shows standing- room -only events. While many have heard Jim, more have only heard of him, and a few don't have a clue who he is. To see them be won over by the Hobo's charming, touching and humorous songs about life in Alaska is a great sight. Other programs this summer included tips on gardening, bird watching, geology, and a presentation on the west Cook Inlet commercial clamming industry's heyday and that was just during our science Mondays. In addition to Hobo Jim, Wednesdays featured a talk on Moose Pass' "Alaska Nellie," a colorful roadhouse owner from early in the last century; quilting while on the road; a look at the Margaret Menting Yupik Grass Basket Collection; a concert by the Kalgin Island Quartet and techniques for doing artwork in watercolor, acrylic and in the computer. Fridays offered a rich selection of programs, as well, including a couple of classes on fly -tying and lake fishing on the Kenai; how to make tools and fire the way Natives did before Western contact; birch -bark basket making; Yupik dress and customs; early Alaska aviation; and a multi- discipline Dena'ina looking to the past and to the future. We thank all of our presenters from across the peninsula and elsewhere in the state for their willingness to volunteer their time and energy to make these presentations possible. Summer Student Art Workshops Nearly 100 youth, ages 5 to 13, participated in our Summer Student Art Workshops, held four Saturdays this summer. Certified art educator Stephanie Cox worked two sessions each Saturday, mornings with those 5 to 9 years old and afternoons with those 9 to 13. Topics included Mexican Yarn Painting, watercolor and acrylic painting, drawing, collages and printmaking, among others. The Boys and Girls Club in both Kenai and Soldotna brought several groups about another 100 kids through the building during the summer. The students learned about the history of Kenai in the cultural history area, as well as about contemporary wildlife art in "Alaska 2003: A Celebration of Wildlife Art," by participating in the "scavenger" hunts created by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District's art education specialist, Debbie Harris. Harris herself guided over 700 students of all grade levels through the exhibit in May and again in September, brining the total number of youth viewing the exhibits to nearly 1,000. "Alaska 2003: A Celebration of Wildlife Art" Our fourth annual major summer art exhibit once again proved to be a raging success, and a significant magnet bringing visitors into Kenai. Curated by Dr. David Wartinbee of Kenai. Peninsula College, "Alaska 2003: A Celebration of Wildlife Art" featured all original paintings by the absolute best artists worldwide in the wildlife genre. The 77 paintings ranged in price from $800 to $55,000. About a dozen sold, yielding a 25 percent commission to the Kenai CVB. The exhibit was featured prominently in "Exploring Alaska with Paul Gray," aired four times statewide on KIMO TV, as well as an arts feature piece on the KTUU Channel 2 Evening News. After each airing a surge in visitors from Anchorage was seen. "Alaska 2003: A Celebration of Wildlife Art" was also the subject of a major feature piece in the Anchorage Chronicle, a weekly published in Anchorage. "Bounty of the Sea" For our fifth annual art exhibition in 2004, retired University of Alaska Anchorage art professor Bill Sabo has been brought on board to guest curate. The theme is "Bounty of the Sea," and will be another invitational exhibition, with Sabo selecting the artists who will participate. The main criteria after being an excellent artist, of course is that they must be from Alaska, or have a strong connection to it, and, their work must not have shown at the Kenai VCC before. "Bounty of the Sea" can include any activity, person or animal in, on, under or near the water along the lines of "2001: A Fish Odyssey," but a little more wide open.