The Fall River Arts and Culture Coalition (FRACC), a proactive and collaborative organization dedicated to advancing arts and culture in Fall River, is thrilled to extend a warm invitation to the community for a special event featuring Kate Fox, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism (MOTT), along with members of the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC). This exciting gathering is set to take place on Thursday, January 18th, at The Ignition Space located at 44 Troy Street, Fall River.
The event, hosted by FRACC in collaboration with Viva Fall River, presents a unique opportunity to explore arts and tourism initiatives that contribute to the vibrant cultural landscape of Fall River. The presentations by FRACC and Viva Fall River promise to showcase the diverse and vibrant cultural tapestry that makes up our community.
The views and opinions expressed on any program are those of The Producers Andor the persons appearing on the program and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of f FRC media Bristol Community College or the city of full River awesome well thank you so much everyone for uh coming out on this
Chilly January evening uh to join us here at uh fracks new ignition space and my name is is Ashley okino I am the executive director of The Fall River arts and culture Coalition AKA frack and so I’m very thrilled to welcome you and I do have a few people uh if they would
Like to say Hello I’d love to give them the opportunity like uh rep Fiola I would love to give you the mic for a second if you just want to say hi and if not I see the look in your eyes it is unheard of but you can have
It for a little while I think you can hear me can you hear me from here need to they need to take you oh FRC Med media is here you can hear me no come on around just watch out for the C I move and I talk um wow what a nice turnout
Tonight Ashley and Patty and everyone what a great um great coming together I’m really proud tonight that uh we have with us and they were very kind uh to come down to learn more about the collaborative arts and culture uh that goes uh programming collaborations that are going on in this
Community to lift us up to bring this exceptional uh more exceptional quality of life to our community that each of you are doing uh it’s not someone it’s everyone and so today I’m very proud people I’ve worked with for the last many years to have uh Michael bobbit the
Executive director of the Massachusetts cultural council with us Michael welcome he’s joined by his colleague Beth an Steiner who they kind of are a tag team I’ve tag team them and then they’ve me and so it’s uh uh they uh operate a lot of funding opportunity
That many of you have taken advantage of uh keep an eye on their website they are um you know a multi million dollar organization funded by the legislature to ensure and they do it that the dollars go out everywhere to everyone and inclusive um uh to ensure the arts
And culture blooms because arts and culture is economic development um I’m also pleased to introduce today uh Kate Fox Kate Fox is the new executive director of a different organization the Massachusetts office of travel tourism Kate welcome uh Kate readily accepted our invitation to come down and I I’m really
Really proud many of you know I served as chair of Arts culture and tourism uh for a session and then I guess I did such a great job the speaker asked me to do something different so um but I we really uh had an exciting time because
We had the pandemic we had increased funding we had such such a lot to do and and certainly my heart was of course Statewide but in particular here and uh we were able to see some energy and more effort and dollars come down here uh but and even though I’m not on that
Committee any longer uh myself along with my colleagues I see Skyler’s here for rep Schmid where’s Skyler yeah for rep Schmid and I see Moren is here for Senator Rodricks and neither of them unless they show up you know I know they weren’t able to make it uh but their
Energy and efforts are collaborative we collaborate so that you can as well um lastly I wanted to first thank all the artists and organizations that support artists um who else did oh very important richleen where are you right here rishen is sitting over there wave again Ren uh Ren is with mass creative
Another Statewide organization that is an advocacy arm for all of you because when they see that you need help that that and they acknowledge the incredible impact of arts and culture on our economy uh they are there to be your voice in Boston and really really
Amplify the need and get us moving so that we can therefore fund uh what you need so um thanks to uh South Coast chamber I see Sandy fras here who served on the MCC as a um director for many years Sandy thanks for your commitment to arts and culture and of course now
Kathy Castro sits on that board and again I may be taking away all your introductions but um I just didn’t want to miss that another great colleague always showing up always showing up uh is our Congressman Jake aen Claus and today he’s represented by his Massachusetts Chief of Staff here Dana
Dana is just um an incredible go-to she’s just their offices the best I’ve ever seen um and of course Katarina from Fall River is here and she sits in that office as well so we are very well represented by a congressman so like you in the arts and culture what
You’re doing here you know um to collaborate on this kind of a space and and to bring this to the community we in our legislative role collaborate to do the same thing so uh to bring it to you so I’m really proud of the team that we
Have uh I’m not going to say anything about the mayor cuz he’s going to come up here and he’s a great collaborator as well and um anyway without further Ado I am G to turn the mic back to Ashley and thank you very much the hot chocolate uh
Who is it Choco Latte who’s chocolate I don’t know who they are great thank you thank you yes yes thank you chocol lato Cafe for sponsoring the delicious FES of hot chocolate bar that I mentioned and again the sprinkles um so I did want to
Invite U May hugan if you would like to come up and just say hello to everyone I know he does and then I would afterwards I would love to invite you Kate and Michael as well to come up and say a few words just watch out for the court as
You step around the corner I don’t need this really I just want to thank um Frack for having us tonight as a great group of people here that are all going to uh get to hear different ideas and proposals to help Fall River um it’s these kind of
Incubators like this and uh with Britney and Harry out front and uh frack in the back and uh I don’t know if that sounds right I’m sorry um it was funny because I went down to uh Viva uh last week and I went to the little Art Studio next door with
The kids working and it was uh tremendous amount of energy down there and if we can keep get these little pockets going in Fall River we’ll have a better City for it and we all do better and I appreciate everybody coming out tonight and uh let’s hear the
Presentation it’s going to be great thank you thank you this is our dress rehearsal we’re going to be doing this again at the North of Boston tourism Summit next Friday so if you find yourself in pey stop on by the Marriott did you bring slides I didn’t
Bring slides I didn’t bring slides okay great no no I I just wanted to um say thank you so much to representa fola for the invitation and for all of you to for opening your doors to invite tourism in uh my name’s Kate Fox I’m the executive director of the Massachusetts office of
Travel and tourism I’ve been on the job for seven months and uh so I’m still calling myself new uh and it’s a really exciting time at mot I’m happy to talk about what our strategic plan and vision is and where we’re going with tourism but I can summarize it by saying that it
Is truly a privilege to be working with under the hey Driscoll administ in the realm of Tourism they are investing in the industry they understand the importance of it and from where I stand tourism doesn’t have a product without the arts and culture the creative economy is such an important
Piece to the to the tourism product we want to put heads in beds and we want to fill restaurants and we want people to shop but they’re only going to come if there’s something to do and what there is to do is going to be the arts and culture so congratulations on this
Beautiful new space I look forward to hearing more tonight and um I have a super easy email address it’s kate. Fox mass.gov uh and if you want to learn more about how to work with mt I’d be happy to connect with anybody thanks Kate and I was so happy
That the governor mentioned the word tourism and her state of the Commonwealth addressed last night and if you haven’t read the economic development plan I encourage you to do so there’s quite a bit of ink um in that document about tourism so now is the
Time for us to strike right and and ask for big things um thank you rep fer for uh inviting me here and and uh reper was very modest but that $61 million that we got for pandemic relief goes large in part to the work that repa did behind
The scenes so thank you so much for that it’s nice nice to meet you Mr Mayor and good to see other representatives from our Congressional offices and our other offices in the legislature U Mass cultural council is an independent state agency um funded by you all because you pay your taxes thank
You and uh and the legislature helps us to get that money um to us and then out to you all we have numerous Grant programs and there are some um um postcards on the table if you want to know about the most of the grant programs have closed for the year but
They start opening up again actually the the festivals and projects Grant opens up super soon in March and then many of the other Grants open up in the fall so get on our social media join our e eblast um so you can get information about that we also started curating um
Other opportunities from outside of the agency that come across our desk and the staff is going out finding up other opportunities grants professional development um requests for proposals um and so check those out because there’s other ways to get money um for for the work that you’re doing um our big
Strategic initiative is really building relationships across other sectors and all across the the the Commonwealth in government so we’re working hard to we’ve met with five or six secretariats um the relationship we’re building is deepening because we’re being more intentional about finding out where we know arts and culture is everywhere and
Everyone can benefit from it so now we’re trying to think more intentionally about how to build relationships with transportation with health with housing um with economic development with Workforce Development so I am literally on the street meeting with everyone that I can everyone’s very excited sometimes
They’re like why are you here and I say well artists use transportation and then they go oh yeah right so so we have a lot of work to do to build and deepen those relationships but I think I think if we do it well um we’ll see um a lot
More maybe contracts and fees for services coming out of um those different departments for the cultural sector we just helped the department of um what is it called uh Department of Youth Services build out a a request for proposals because we finally convinced them that Arts can help with the
Recidivism issue they have and so several Arts organizations are going to get great government contracts so that’s kind of the example that we’re thinking about um I’m so proud of you and this space Ashley thanks for for having us here um I am also really excited to see you all coming together to
Collaborate with your um with your leaders and talk about how arts and culture can be um en liven and I want to see that happen more um and please invite me back absolutely thank you all so [Applause] Much so as you know we go into budgeting season now right the governor’s budget will come out next week week um and we’re hoping for more um we’ve made an ask for more already um and so one of the things that we like to do when this
Happens is we start pushing pushing the button on advocacy and so this year um Mass creative our partners um our advocacy partners are launching sort of an advocacy week they’re going to be advocacy events happening all across the state but on the 24th 24th at the State House we want to
Show up by the thousands um to really sort of support arts and culture there’ll be performances all day but we’re going to hear from a lot of our leaders um we are meeting tomorrow to see if we can get the governor and lieutenant governor to
Come and show up um but come that day it’s a chance for you to um show our numbers but also to sort of go throughout this state house and talk to your legislators if you haven’t had a chance to meet them so get on mass creative site you should be a member of
Mass creative if if you’re not a member but get on the site get on the social media so you can hear information about it register for it and send the word out because we want to show up with lots of numbers for for Arts advocacy day all right [Applause]
Great I don’t get an INT introduction but that’s okay um so I will introduce myself though uh hi everybody I’m the executive director of Viva Fall River my name is Patty rioo and I am thrilled to see everybody here today um so just to start off Viva Fall River has always been more
Than just a phrase um it started out as a movement which was to rally um so to speak rally the troops to come together and to collaborate um for the longevity and the prosperity of the city of Fall River um from the very beginning our aim has been to showcase the businesses the
Culture the events in the city focusing on economic development Community initiatives and of course arts and culture Viva Fall River serves as a reminder that this city is not just a place on a map but it’s a living breathing entity with a very unique identity um a lot of our work has been
Centered on strengthening um a sense of community Pride I think that’s where we we started um and convey but then also conveying to others outside the city how unique and diverse our community and our offerings are um and so our job at Via fer is to draw on those existing assets
That are all around us to elevate the profile of the city as a premier South Coast destination the overarching goal um is always to support economic development but those efforts are leveraging the potential of the creative economy and cultural tourism primarily positioning the city as authentic accessible culturally unique welcoming and on the
Verge of an arts and culture Renaissance in September of 2022 Viva Fall River entered into a 2-year contract with the city of Fall River to implement a strategic tourism plan leveraging um federal arpa funds we are now about halfway into year two of that contract
So uh but taking it back to um September of 2022 uh when we began one of the first steps that we took was developing um Baseline tourism data by which we could begin to measure not only our efforts but the collective efforts of the city in attracting new visitors and
Increasing the economic impact of visitation spending so uh the first thing I did was form a tourism advisory committee because you definitely needs support and you know just because it’s my idea doesn’t mean that it’s a great idea um so the tourism advisory committee is made up from of leaders
From the community specifically those who are engaged in Economic Development and or key destination management and our first task as a collective committee was to vet proposals for a company to conduct Baseline research that could inform targeted strategies tactics and advertising campaigns so I’m not going to get it I
Mean the research study itself is like 50 pages so I’m just going to give you a little little overview but um I mean developing baselines of visitor influenced economic activity is absolutely crucial for tracking the performance of Tourism over time so we um after you know a selective search we
Partnered with UMass Dartmouth Charlton College of Business and their Associates to conduct a two-part study that was officially completed in September of of this past year the three primary tasks were um first to assess market conditions and consumer spending in tourism related Industries comparing Fall River to its surrounding
Communities the second task was to De to develop visitor profiles and market segments I mean I we definitely had some assumptions but you know assumptions don’t look great on uh Grant proposals so I needed data um so we uh de needed to develop needed to analyze visitor
Data from major uh major attractions so Partners in the city and conduct interviews with key informant so conducting interviews with people who came to events in the summer of 2023 and the last task was to establish baselines of visitor influence economic activity where are people spending their money
And also um get a sense of rooms and meals taxes so that we could track the the growth of visitor spending over time um so part one as I mentioned focused on the quantitative data we utilized claritus claritas identity graph which provides insights into consumer data particularly how much they spend and on
What um and then we also analyzed some of the visitor data that we got from um a couple of key locations in this City some of our top destinations so Battleship Cove the narrow Center for the Arts and the Lizzy Barden house um part two was um the second part was done
In the summer as I mentioned and those were um qualitative data that consisted of four intercept surveys that happened at major events and that was conducted by a team from UMass dmouth both reports can be found on the city’s website but some key takeaways like where visitors
Are coming from and it’s not um you know I mean we definitely have people who who who visit certain attractions from much further away than 30 or 60 minutes but a majority of the visitors who come here are from a 30 or 60 Minute um drive time
So um they for in the short term those represent a more attainable and cost effective short-term strategy for us to get more visitors so not only you know visitors from the surrounding area but even as you know Boston’s within that 50 miles um as is Western Massachusetts um
Fall River is specifically in such a good geographic location to do to be what we call um but well Southeastern Massachusetts visitors bureau calls Hub and spoke so we are next to a lot of hubs so that would be Providence um Providence Newport yes even New Bedford
And um and you know casting the net a little wider Plymouth Boston and the cape we can capitalize on the proximity to those and Target visitors who are visiting those destinations based on we have a lot of similar assets so how do we get those visitors to spend a little
Bit of their trip trip here with us and a lot of their money with us so um yeah we’re near a lot of hubs so we can be a very attractive spoke and that’s what I trying to do um and then based on some of that data we came away with some uh
Short-term strategies which I’ve listed here um definitely leveraging the Catalyst attractions how do we cross Market with each other I mean there are definitely three or four key locations that people are going to but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t Associated locations that couldn’t add to somebody so instead of that person
Just going to that place and then leaving how do we get them to stay and go to different locations and also to visit restaurants that are neighbor and nearby so how do we promote cross marketing and collaboration um encouraging repeat visitation is huge we want people to fall in love with Fall
River and keep coming back um eliminating seasonality this is something that’s going to take longer than just the couple years that I’ve been doing this but you know obviously like a lot of places in New England you’ve got the key season spring and summer in these days with the way our
Weather is going that’s that’s season’s getting even smaller but how do we you know work on some of the other things and not it doesn’t have to be just based on weather like we’re very lucky here to have amazing culinary scene so how do we continue to promote tourism all year
Round so that we can Bank on that so that we’re not just putting it all into our summer season and then like last year it was kind of a wash out and that you know that can really sync you um as I just mentioned focusing on culinary
Tourism one of our strongest assets um I think it’s something that we a lot of us take for granted like we know our food is good but do other people now our food is good um and it’s also even though it’s our ethnic food that we’re used to
It’s very interesting to other people so and it’s not just about the food it’s about the culture and the Traditions attached to that so um and then also you know with with historical and recreational outdoor opportunities how do we broaden strategies how do we take a more Regional approach I mean we do
Have wonderful historic attractions we do have great recreational assets but as a collective if you look at Dartmouth Westport um even even toward Newport if you can Market that in a larger sense like how do we kind of piggyback on some of that and create this this much more
Regional approach that will also benefit Fall River so kind of broadening our strategies there and then I think one of the big things we realized when we were trying to collect data is unfortunately a lot of the locations in Fall River where people do visit from outside
Weren’t really collecting data uh and if they were it wasn’t collecting the types of things in a that we needed and in a consistent manner so working with people to try to improve measurement tactics um which is super important so while this research was being conducted because I
Obviously did not conduct that so I needed to be busy and do something else um so we were busy redesigning Viva fall River’s website and branding to um more closely mirror the city’s new branding which is lovely um and present content we had to just kind of take a different
Look at the content and we revised our content strategy to be extremely visitor focused on engagement and education so educating them about the city and giving them the enticement to come and engage uh we wanted it to look more like a tourism website and I think some of the
Ones I looked at were um like destination Salem C Plymouth I mean some of these have a lot of the same a lot of the same attributes that we have and they and they’ve done it really well so I Look to them for inspiration not only on the aesthetic but also navigation
Content um the website was also refocused on three key visitor segments to better organize the content but I also realized that Fall River can’t be sold as just like come to Fall River you come to Fall River for very spec like there’s different reasons so food history Recreation so we decided to
Really create these distinct sections so we have food and beverage culinary organized by type of food attractions which includes both historical and cultural attractions and Recreation which is specifically outdoor recreation um we also worked on literature that we could distribute regionally um using you know using a company that puts them in
Visitor hub but also to go to trade shows we work with Southeastern Massachusetts visitors bureau we went to the Big E which is really fun this year um so you’ll see in the back and around here there’s an actual um general brochure and then we have three rack
Cards that can either be Standalone or they can go with the with the brochure and each rack card focuses on the corresponding um online section so food history or attractions and Recreation um and then all the while we continue to adapt and grow our social media presence
We had to take a different look you know what kind of content that we were posting I mean we still have a deep commitment to the community and we still very much so promote the events that are going on here we want to educate people to get out and explore their own City
It’s not just about getting people from the outside it’s getting people who live here to enjoy it and tell other people um but so we do have the you know our content calendar but a lot of what we do on social media is crafting a positive narrative about the city so that you
Know that when you go to Via Fall River it’s going to be good things about Fall River and that’s to combat anything else that you might see which you shouldn’t be following them anyway and then we continue our Weekly Newsletter which is Viva news Viva news
Is very much for the community it has it’s very heavy on community events but we added this year Viva visit which is our quarterly tourism newsletter um which is primarily our our list that we were able to get through a promotion we did last year um people who are the the
Typical Traveler um past 50 miles outside of the city so um as I mentioned we created areas of focus that so that we could develop specific campaign specific creative and also wording so for culinary um you know I my line is authentic affordable and diverse you
Know the the first the second one is definitely one that we need these days to Affordable um historical I mean we have such a rich Heritage here and not only that the places that we do have for people to come are really engaging experiences they they are really good at
Doing what they do and making their visitors feel like they have gone back to another time so um we need to really you know how do we package those and how do we get people to not just go to One Stop but to go to multiple ones and then Recreation our unexpected hidden
Gems so um I going to culinary tourism this is my favorite one to do always um it’s definitely not a hard job to do um so I believe strongly that food is a common denominator um and it creates connection and it’s and also an effective View vehicle for interweaving
Like cultural storytelling it’s also fun and delicious as I mentioned but um Fall River is incredibly diverse in its food selection and it’s often underrated and so I definitely um you know this is definitely one of the things I say that you can eat around the world and you
Don’t even need a passport here um and so I as culinary Adventures are also rooted in cultural experiences when I tell the story of food it also provides me with an opportunity to provide some insight into the different culture Cal groups that make up fall Rivers’s community and so we’ve developed
Self-guided and guided tour options that kind of break down the barrier of oh I don’t know about that food or I don’t know about that culture and we use food as a vehicle to get people to kind of see that that it’s common that your culture and my culture are very similar
We all like I when I did the meat pie tour we all have a meat pie so that’s kind of like you know the the unifying factor and we’re also just a dining destination that offers an exceptional value for the money these are just some of the
Examples of things that we’ve done over the last couple years the fall over meat pie tour which started it all um which is we still add places every time we just added about three new places in all Latin American restaurants um that’s on the right there that’s coming up we just
Completed a video series of Latin American restaurants when when it’s all is said and done there will be 19 restaurants and grocery like grocery markets in the city Latin American restaurants so that we can start to get people and they’re all in Spanish which is which is what we we wanted we wanted
Them to be in Spanish with English subtitles because we want to start getting visitors from outside of the city who are not only interested in the culture but also identify with that culture um we’ve uh had that Foodies picture there is a custom itinerary that
We have as part of our take five off 195 um our our campaign that we did for the last two years then there’s the taste of Portugal tour which is a guided tour that we do with New Bedford Food Tours um it’s 3 hours 1.5 miles on Columbia Street and even though I
Thought I knew everything that was to know about being aoran it was and chrisan shaking her head because it was amazing I mean it really was um so because it not only you not only get to taste all this amazing food and you not only learn about the aoran culture but
What the azorian who came here how they helped to form what Fall River is and so it really is it’s their story too and it’s really amazing and it’s also helped to create a sense of community amongst the restaurants there so kind of a win-win everywhere then we’ve got fall
Over restaurant week which is going to be in its third year it’s coming on March 15th really excited about that we also like to do our we also have a very competitive streak in this NE in this area so we have did last year did the P
Daata Throwdown uh which is um you know our our wonderful Portuguese pastries and that was primarily New Bedford Fall River New U New Bedford did win but we also had a winner in Fall River and we were all winners really at the end of the day um we’ve also what we’re doing
Next month is South Coast back down so we tried to make it a little bit more inclusive but at the end sad to say even though we included all the South Coast cities it still came down to new bford and Fall River and one Bakery in Fair
Haven that makes their own sweet bread so it’s a sweet bread competition everybody get your stretchy pants out next month because um so yeah so so this one you know we’re doing the same thing and it was so it’s so great because um people get to the whole idea is to get
People to stop being like that’s my bakery that’s my B go to another City try new things like check it out um and we’ve got we you know we did really well with it last year and it’s fun and then the Ice Cream Tour which was just a
Blast in general and we made that into a little promotion like it was like a bingo so we’re always trying to do fun things um just really quickly the historical sites I mean we have some incredible um historical sites here especially if you’re into military history uh not like I mentioned not only
Are they high quality establishments but they really offer the visitors a really you know something you can’t get if you go to a big space um you’re not just one of a of a big tour group you really get the you know the real experience um we
Also you know we have our Portuguese festivals but um Ashley and I are both trying to work on on how do we get some of the other groups in the city like the cambodians the ecuadorians the Brazilians how do we Foster um their you know cultural festivals how do we really
Truly show the cultural diversity that we have here in the city and then of course our public art which has been such a joy to see oh sorry such a joy as I’m like as I’m showing my hands it’s um it’s been wonderful to see them popping
Up around the city and people engaging with it um and so you know we are also looking at how we can develop a public art tour uh self-guided of course some of the ways that we’ve worked on that again customized itineraries as part of take five off 195 so we have one for
History Buffs one for families of course you cannot forget about the families we have a wonderful children’s Museum here we have parks and playgrounds Olstead Parks so these are all things that we try to um we try to weave in we’ve also done a lot of work on our website how do
We highlight cultural organizations that you can visit and then Ashley and I were um privileged to work with serid um over the last year on an arts and culture focused piece so it’s going to it’s a brochure that shows the public art sites and talks about cultural organizations
But it’s also a map it’s it’s a large scale map so um we just finished that and it’s we’re really pleased with how it came out and then the last one our last Focus area is recreational tourism which may seem surprising to you but it shouldn’t be considering that Fall River is
Basically 50% water and 50% land um we are truly a unique combination of picturesque Urban spaces and untouched natural beauty so for me outdoor enthusiasts um you know they you know if you can spend $6,000 or something on a trucks bike those are the types of
Travelers I want in Fall River so we have um we definitely want people who have you know who will come here and we have a such a diversity boating fishing birding biking sailing even kite flying and even though that was a that was a more of a community event it was still
You know we we were able to make inroads with the Newport Kite Festival so just just trying to show all these beautiful spaces that we have and how they can be activated so that was one of my literally one of my favorite events I’ve ever done in Fall River um
And I think also what I try to remember what I try to tell people is I’m not only trying to get people from the outside to enjoy Recreation but to to Really provide Equitable access for our residents how can we give them more access to some of these things so the
Norton City Pier was some place last year that we did a lot of community events and the kite night was by far the the most attended but it was really beautiful to see families out there flying kites together just enjoying our Waterfront so more of that to come some examp
Here um explore New England next Wednesday uh we will be doing a screening here of a 30 minute television episode um I was able to work with explore New England on a on filming an episode 30- minute episode all about fall River’s diverse Recreation opportunities I’m thrilled at how the
Episode came out you can watch it on YouTube but it’s so much more fun when you come and you watch it together so we’re going to be doing a screening but we’re also going to have a really informal panel discussion I’m trying to get people from um state agencies some
People that we work with the trustees autons and also public the public to come and talk about what recreational opportunities exist here in floriva how can we work better together we have to start the conversation somewhere I’m not expecting all you know all the answers
To come next Wednesday but I do want to at least start this dialogue about how we can be better about you know bringing our recreational opportunities to the Forefront then we also had um this last year last summer we added a sixth itinerary to the take five off 195 and
That one’s just about Recreation and we just redesigned the recreation page so we’re adding a lot of blog content working with um some local outdoor enthusiasts so that they can write blog content because I I know I look like it but I’m not an outdoors person and um
You know so just like B like like hiking um when we’re we were even walking working with somebody who’s going to do walking trails in the city and that’s what’s good too is that we’re not just talking about getting them out into the bio Reserve you can do a nice walking
Tour throughout the city and see many many things and stop at many businesses so kind of how do we put those two things together and so yeah as I talked about it a couple times just thought I’d show because I am so proud of that billboard that wasn’t achievement unlocked for
Sure um so actually take five started before I even started doing tourism with the city um it was actually from a grant fromat actually that um made that possible Grant fromont with some support from the sou Eastern Massachusetts visitors Bureau um it consisted of at the time five itineraries we added one
Last year they all have videos and the idea was for people on the way to the cape to take a break take a break get off 195 come to Fall River spend a couple hours and then get back on your way and then maybe come back and see us
On your way back so um we did a lot of online content Google ads social media campaign and of course that amazing billboard in Providence which was definitely fun to do um we also do a lot of events and collab orations as I mentioned we do we do have the number
One calendar for events in Fall River there not only do we accept Community submissions I also have somebody who works for me who just scours the internet for Fall River events our goal is to get everyone that we can so that people always know there is something to
Do every single night in Fall River I challenge you to find a night that there is not something to do um we also work really closely with the fabric Arts Festival I’ve been working with them since before Viva was even a thing that was even a thing um and um it’s just
Become such an amazing event that I’m so proud to work on um and Ashley works as well with them to make sure that you know the the it’s become Regional now we they do programming in Providence um and in New Bedford but really to make sure that the Fall River portion of the
Programming really is true to our community and then we did a couple things third Fridays at the gates Norton City peer events and um just trying to get trying to like highlight what those events were were mostly to highlight local makers local artists lots of performances we just really wanted to
Bring some things to the city that hadn’t been brought before always trying new things um and then last but not least um I think one of the the things that this arpa grant has allowed is for us to be able to to do a ton of work and
How do we push out this positive message and Fall River to a lot of different places and a lot of different mediums that we haven’t been able to do before so yes in the bottom left there there we were on the commuter rail um it’s super fun to see Fall River food advertising
Or for over advertising at Boston South St South South Station so um we will be doing that again but we’ve done it all the first year we tried just a little bit of everything because we just really didn’t have a Baseline and I’m a big believer let’s try it and see what
Happens and so we did local Regional National print uh we done USA Today um we actually just recently did something for Nat go UK their US edition um digital Geo targeting Google ads you name it we’ve done it but obviously through those metrics we have seen from
Year One what worked we had varying degrees of success with all of these but now we know what works and where our markets are and so year two we’ve made we’ve made a lot more informed decisions and focused on certain medium mediums to get us through the rest of year two and
What’s next so I am um I’m thrilled to say that probably I would say summer let’s say summer um we will have a pilot year for a new City Sites shut is what I’m possibly calling it I don’t want to call it a trolley but I know let’s call
It a trolley but um that was also it’s it’s a the city was able to get a grant again from M thank you um and so we’ve been working through some Roots um and working through some of the logistics but this is super exciting uh I think
It’s going to allow not only visitors to navigate the city in a more friendly way but also for residents as well there’s a lot I’m always a big fan of the station how do you like you know make where you live to be surprising um also in tandem
With that wayf finding um so obviously all the stops will have signs and then we’re creating self-guided audio tours so that any anywhere you go you’ll be able to scan a QR code or go to our website and have kind of like you know a pocket tour guide to take you around and
To tell you about the the area and the sites in that area so we’re working on that we also have a ton of expanded content we’re adding blogs every day blogs about food blogs about Recreation it’s just constantly trying to make sure that we are keeping people on the
Website and reading more about Fall River and linking to content um we are also doing a lot of pitching of stories because if you want people to write stories about you you have to let them know what you’re doing so we’ve been pitching to a lot of uh Outlets um
National outlets and Regional Outlets to try to get some good stories about Fall River and we’ve we’ve actually had a couple hits on Recreation recently so we’re excited about that and there will be a new summer campaign this year um I’m not sure what form it’s going to
Take but instead of take five off 195 it’s going to be SE more off 24 so as you can see these are the types of things I do with my time um so and that’s it um I will say that um thank you I would say that first and foremost
For coming but also um I didn’t I lived in Fall River I grew up in Fall River but I moved away for about 17 years and it was always my hope that I would be able to come back and do something for my city so doing this job having the
Opportunity to to take you know to to do some of the experience that I’ve had and work on tourism has really been like the opportunity of a lifetime so I appreciate it and um I hope that you all learned something tonight thank [Applause] you awesome well thank you so much Patty
And honestly you don’t need an introduction I mean you don’t need one anyway um so again my name is Ashley okino I’m the executive director of frack and so what I wanted to talk a little bit about today is what Frack has been up to and what members of the Coalition have been
Up to so our Coalition um is comprised of uh about 170 um I say 170 it’s 170 individuals businesses organizations government it’s a little bit of everything and you can see that also by who is here tonight in attendance um we have a Patty had mentioned it briefly on her slide we
Have a creative economy plan our creative economy plan launched in 2021 and within that plan I have six goals and 27 strategies that have been implemented over the past two years and I’m happy to say we’ve gone through a lot of them and it’s actually probably time to redo that plan
Again um but when people ask uh and I often say in a in a cheeky kind of way like what what is frack like what what is frack what the Frack Frack at the end of the day is an advocate an asset and a resource and by Advocate we mentioned
Mass creatives here tonight and I’m thrilled that they are um I believe that advocacy is a big role that we all play everyone is an advocate it does not take much to be one really it does not um you can just write a letter you can just
Share a post online you’re doing it um and so some of the ways that uh Frack has been doing advocacy work um is through not only will I be at the state house next Wednesday so I hope I see all of you there uh but also speaking about
Different bills that have come up or different types of legislation including the downtown Vitality act uh that’s a big one where it will put uh online sales uh nope that’s not the down yes it will put online sales back into the hands of organizations and creatives so
They can best spend the money to reach the audiences that they know how to communicate with and audiences that they want to reach uh another one that we’ve talked um about at the frack and that we’ve been advocating for is the cultural equity and tourism Grant and
Again it’s about getting money into the hands of the organizations that best know how to tell their stories um and so what we have been doing uh is within those City goals and within our advocacy work we are connecting to wider goals across the city as Patty mentioned it’s
It’s about collaboration it’s about uh really utilizing the research and the studies that have been done and using them to our advantage um as we’ve moved through our cultural plan um and so there there I am with u some our friends from Mass creative um and also the metropolitan area planning Council
And our friends at Nea uh the New England foundation for the Arts uh those are two organizations that Frack has been interacting with pretty frequently on a variety of different topics uh and last year we actually received a grant from nefa uh for their spatial Justice for Collective imagining for spatial
Justice Justice that’s that there we go uh and so what we have also been doing is regranting so Frack is part of our economic uh development approach we have been regranting funds out to individuals and organizations in the community we have been providing professional development most recently with Bristol
Community College and also public art and events we mentioned events uh some of the events that I want to highlight is Open Studios that has happened the last few years as part of fabric Art Festival but we’ve also had I would say they’re community events but people from 50
Miles come to these community events and that includes weart Fall River and than Smith which we have seen thousands of people come out and enjoy and those two particular events that are hosted every May and Thanksgiving is an opportunity for Frack to engage both creatives uh makers are there and performers are
There there’s live music happening and everyone that is there is paid and that is the most important part uh and so we continue to collabor Cate with the city and with Partners Patty mentioned uh some of the events that happened down at the pier um but one of the other things
That has happened is the summer evenings in the park and so that is a more community- based event but it is such an important community- based event uh it’s led by The Narrows and it has a lot of Partners involved including VF Fall River and Recreation and for eight weeks
During the summer we go to eight different parks and during that time we provide art we there’s music there are free groceries to take home and the the grill is always going with hot dogs and hamburgers and the ice cream truck is there too and this last summer we saw
Over 3,000 people come out to those eight events that were hosted so it is um you know as we talk about Open Studios and we talk about local events it really is this wonderful melding of people coming together in green spaces and in public spaces across the city so
Some of the things that I’ve highlighted on here uh you can see actually in we’re in the building right we’re in right now um and that is from the opening of Fabrics um exhibition here inside the space and I mentioned regranting as well and so um our regranting has also
Allowed for performances for art to be made and including public art as well and So speaking of public art Frack has been very busy with public art um and not only has Frack been busy with public art but the city in general has been busy with public busy with public
Art um and it is something that uh I think some of our oldest pieces in the city are about 80 years old sculpture wise so it’s not anything new to the city but I have to give credit where it’s due to both yor and to the uh
Fabric Arts Festival they really got it going in a way that was very visible in the city and I’m happy to continue moving that forward um so I have an example up here of projects that Frack specifically um uh funded and helped manage uh down at the bottom we have a
Um Olstead mural at Kennedy Park that’s been done by the Fall River Arts Pro project they’re finishing up that mural right now uh that was something that they had a variety of sources of funding but Frack was very happy to be involved in that project uh up at the top is our
Most recent mural dad’s home which uh thank you rep fol that was done through a state earmark and we also have uh a Blue Cross Blue Shield Fitness Court in britland park and uh there is the artist Fall River resident Abigail Collins receiving her check for her beautiful
Mural that was installed on the fitness court and Abigail will always have the title of having the first call for artist work on a Massachusetts Fitness Court these courts are all over the place but she was the first person Fall River was the first one to do a call for
Artist so there’s more now but she will always be the first and I I want to make sure she she always gets acknowledged for that um and I also have some of our work um that that Viva and uh frack and the fber Republic schools did last year
With three big murals when we collaborated with Beyond walls uh so there’s a lot of variety of mural projects that have happened across the city but one of the things that I really want to point out is that they’re not just murals these all have deeper stories attached to them they have
Deeper experiences for example the mural um uh dad’s home that I mentioned up at the top there was a whole Apprentice program attached to that mural project as well so we had six apprentices who worked with the two professional artists uh from from day one when they showed up
They got their lift certification and now they feel confident they feel empowered to go forward and do some mural work on their own um and I’m happy to say that since that project’s finished some of them have gotten um jobs from that as well so it’s it’s more
Than just the murals and same thing um with the beautiful smiling face coming out of the water that is Juliana a St a student who was at DOR in school at the time when the mural was done and that mural project had a whole ex uh virtual
Pen pal exchange with students in tab bomba Colombia so students from Fall River and Colombia uh got together virtually over twoe period and they talked about what they had in common and it’s water shared water so that that video you can find all of this on on
Fracks website I do of course go go visit our website so uh coming up in 2024 later on this year is uh continuing public art and so I’m very proud of Fall River uh we are one of 25 cities from across Canada Mexico and the United States out of 200 applications that has
Been selected for a Bloomberg philanthropies Grant and this grant specifically is for their asphalt art initiative which is to put murals on the ground to increase pedestrian and bicycle and traffic safety for everyone um so I’m very thrilled the mayor’s office I have to give huge shout out
They’ve been very supportive of of arts and culture in the city uh and especially to be able to do an application like this so it is a huge Pride for um for Not Just Fall River but really for the region we are the first ones to have this uh and that mural will
Be going down um in September and it will be at the intersection of Bradford and Broadway which I’ve shown on the map and that’s where uh that’s the road that runs right through the middle of Kennedy Park and so what we’ll be doing between now and the mural happening is we’ll be
Doing community surveys we’re interested to hear people’s input so uh through the mayor’s office and through frck there will be some surveying happening and the course there’ll be lots of events that we know always happen uh at Kennedy Park so it will definitely be a place for
Celebration um and I did include an image of um of artwork um by the artist who we are working with for this project so Lena McCarthy is a Massachusetts based artist she actually has family here in Fall River and so she’s very thrilled to come back to the city and to
Do a miral for us and so I’ve shown an example of one that she did uh last year in Kendall Square and so what else has Frack been doing um some of the other ways that we’ve been working to elevate the community um I had mentioned uh our events that we
Have we have students from dery high school there and we also have our after school program uh we had received far arpa money from the city to start a uh pilot program that would last two years and that is the South Coast creative arts lab and we say South Coast because
We want it to eventually be big and and we want more to be involved with it and it’s a unique program that combines yoga art and music and it is really takes a holistic approach uh transportation is provided both ways both from the school to the program and from the program back
Home healthy and student chosen snacks because I have to say that because sometimes there’s Cheetos there I mean there is there is fruit and veggies but you have to have some like some fun stuff too um so not only are snacks provided in yoga and in their choosen
Track chosen track of whether art or music uh but thanks to the greater Fall River food prry every student goes home with a bag of groceries uh each week as well um we do recognize that as we um work with the community that there there is
Need and the need is great and it is it is vast and so as we are able to um provide um substance through either our after school program or through summer evenings in the park or even through our regranting program um our regranting program that we did last year there was
Actually a stipulation that all of it could not be spent on the project and that some of it had to stay for them to to spend on life expenses um and so also the ignition space and so that’s definitely one that we want to we want
To highlight so here we are we’re in the new ignition space uh that opened officially in October and this space has been designed to remove barriers and provide access for the creative community and so as Frack handed out its first round of Grants we found that uh
Folks who did not have either a studio or uh a place that called they called home for their creative practice that when we were asking them to do a placemaking project they were running into issues so by providing this space we will now um not only be able to
Provide um a location for folks that Frack is granting money to but also to the public as well so when we launched the ignition space we put out a uh request for proposals to the community and so the artists that you see are on the walls here today were some of the
Folks that responded to that um request and we have many more coming up after that but I am thrilled to to be able to support people to have families come in and to see the the many celebrations that happen every single time we have an event here at the ignition space uh but
It’s not just about uh having the exhibitions here uh Patty had mentioned serpent um and we recently hosted a networking event here for them as well which brought uh administrators from um different municipalities from all across the South Coast or southeastern region together so one of the other things is
We’ve got good press too we’ve got good press too generally generally Fall River has really as we talk about tonight elevating Fall River it really is I I want to make sure I get it very clear it’s not just fren it’s not just Viva it’s what we are all doing um and so
Some of the press that I just wanted to highlight was a really wonderful article by Harvard magazine that talked to a variety of folks um from across the city lots of different voices in that article um the exhibition I mentioned when we first opened here uh got some great
Press from the Boston Globe as well and um our mural work with Beyond walls was featured on Chronicle uh some of the regional work that we do is Art week South Coast so art week when it existed out of the Bosch Center had gone away it’s been back it’s been on the south
Coast happening for a few years now um and so it is a regional effort that goes across from Fall River to weham so eight cities and towns participate and we have well over well over a 100 events that we put into our calendar every year between
Those um those eight and last year uh Patty and myself took the lead on um the administrative side of of artweek South Coast and uh shout out to our friends in New Bedford they’re taking the lead this year and again it’s a regional effort we get together as a committee and talk
About elevating elevating all of us in what we’re doing so I had mentioned the South Coast creative arts lab was our after school program I have Senator Rodrick there at Open Studios we love when they come and Visit but all of this promotion that goes behind it does have things that does have attachments to it so for example you see a few different logos on there uh the sou eastern Mass visitors bureau um has been a a great supporter of our regional efforts like art week South
Coast um we have also um really tried to work with other organizations to elevate those in so how do I want to say this that’s not the best way to say it so within the city there are so many creatives and they just need Outlets to
To sell their wears and to show others what they are doing so two of those that I want to make sure that I highlighted were the Viva maker shop and craf is uh they between the two of them probably have 200 different makers uh that are doing everything from earrings to soap
To uh mugs to anything in between it’s like my favorite plac is to do all of my shopping and I know that when I handed out gifts for the holiday this year I got a lot of where did you get this from and I said you have to come to F River
You need to come to Fall River and Shop with local creatives um but between the regranting the professional development the public art and the after school program uh since it’s been two years now since I’ve been with frack and we’ve made an investment of over $530,000 into the community which is a
Quite a bit and so just to kind of give you an idea of how that breaks down um by the end of this year we will uh regranted $882,000 to individuals we will have provided $50,000 worth of professional development our youth after school program uh over $25,000 investment in youth programming
And over 200,000 in public art so this is economic development and and from my standpoint Economic Development starts when there is a catalyst behind it uh and so Frack really has been a catalyst for um all sorts of things happening in the city but I think the thing that I’m
Really most proud of is our impact on both individuals and on organizations uh it it can be a little antidotal and I think a lot of times when we’re in our our daily routine we we kind of just are going through oh what’s the next email and what’s the
Next project and what’s the next this and that but at the end of the day it is important to recognize that uh fracks Collective efforts um and that 53 $30 investment does make a difference in the city and it does make a difference in people’s lives um and so one of the
Quotes that’s on here that I want to make sure that I acknowledge is uh together uh with the support of the um South Coast Community Foundation New Bedford creative and Frack worked on a business of art feasibility study um and through that feasibility study we worked
With uh a core group of creatives from each City and they went out and interviewed more creatives so with over 30 interviews collected and with listening sessions and working group sessions uh we uh came together with a a real I would say robust study that helped us see some weak points but it
Also helps show our strengths as well and so one of the quotes that’s on here that I want to recognize is that this study did not sit on a shelf from the moment it was done Coalition members had their hands right on it and they said how can I utilize this study to
Recognize my dream of something that I’ve been wanting to do for a while um and so shout out to the soo Art Labs um they have uh utilized our uh business of art study to open up that space um and I’m excited to see what else happens
Inside uh that location 3,000 feet is pretty big uh some of the other work that we’ve done um Patty mentioned working with um serid but it’s not just about working with serid on the on the maps and um uh of resources of both uh nonprofits and
Public art but uh Frack also serves and Patty you should say this too on their Regional economic strategy committee wow so we’re outside of outside of just here we are part of a larger Collective with this committee and again working with administrators um and municipalities from across the south coast region uh
Another way that Frack is working to elevate and Michael I think you’ll appreciate this is we are a member of the Massachusetts artist service practitioner Coalition so in short what does that mean it means we’re working to more effectively Advance partic uh more effectively Advance participating Statewide services so it is uh assets
For artists New Bedford creative the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod Dan blask from MCC Mass creative nefa the Boston mayor’s office um midday movement series Arts Boston the list goes on and on but the point is is that Frack is involved in conversations not just with the southeastern region but across the state
As well so with this uh practitioner Coalition really our goal is to be effective what are what kind of professional development are you offering like what are these resources that you are sharing and as we communicate more uh frequently with each other and more openly with each other we
Believe that we’ll better use all of our resources and time um and I’m looking forward to really digging into them um digging into into it with them it’s a it’s a newer um you’re looking at me like oh I haven’t heard of this it’s a newer Coalition it’s a newer Coalition
That exists um but it’s such an important one as we recognize and as a lot of us have utilized either um uh arpa funds or other Grant funds to do programming to elevate our creative sector we realize that there there has been duplication so we don’t want to do
That um but at the same time uh we want to continue to find uh new resources and new opportunities as well and that’s how it can happen with these conversations so Fall River uh we have we have so much wonderful things happening in the city but there are a
Few highlights that I wanted to point out I’ve talked a little bit about what Frack has been doing but I want to make sure I uh highlight other organizations in the city as well uh that are part of the Coalition um so for example uh I know they’re here tonight the greater
Fall River Art Association they’ve been around for 6 57 years in the city so they they’ve been around for a while and so hasn’t their historic home and so shout out to to the Art Association uh they recently received uh two pres uh preservation grants to upgrade their
Porch and to become ada8 uh compliant I would also like to um acknowledge that they’ve formed a lot of new Partnerships in the city as well and this is where I see uh Frack also being a resource for folks uh we do have monthly Frack meetings where folks come
Together and it’s always a nice kind of group and we uh we share we share what is happening uh with each of our organizations or ourselves individually and a lot of connections actually always connections are made at that meeting nobody walks out of that meeting without
A connection um and so I know that the Art Association has um really been uh working hard and their education programs have been very busy um but they also have new Partnerships with Little Theater Fall River um and I also want to acknowledge uh FR mocha uh our neighbors
Right here and I’ll make sure that when we finish up this evening we we have the doors open so you can get the last glimpse of their first show inside the space um so since opening inside uh the building here on Troy street they’ve had over 500 visitors uh from really all
Over the globe I’ve put a few highlights up on the slide here and I’ll just read them in case you’re in the back uh we have Portland Oregon Lisbon New Jersey Brooklyn Los Angeles New Hampshire Hawaii so talk about folks coming from all corners of the globe um and
Congratulations foka that is that is very that is very impressive um and it’s also because they have been getting great press as well um with Boston Globe Boston art review Harold News dissident magazine and F moka’s work goes beyond and I encourage you Britney Harry is here tonight their director uh it goes
Far beyond what they have here on the walls exhibition wise to really connect with them and hear a lot more about what they’re doing uh another organization the Fall River Art arts project they have a great acronym frap which I mean Frack is good but frap is even better um
And so congratulations I’d mention their um their public art piece at Kennedy Park that they’re finishing up their Olstead mural uh but they’re also working on uh restoration at Battleship Cove right now and with Stevens program which is over um in uh towards the Swansea area uh which works as a um uh
Services and treatment for teen boys and so they’ve been working with them as well and so appreciate uh they had put on a Halloween parade a few years ago and it will be back again hopefully this October that’s a fun one and I know that that’s one where again they put it out
To the community for the opportunity to participate as well um and so one of the uh larger organizations in the city that I wanted to uh acknowledge more than just their summer evenings in the park program that they do uh but also just the attendance numbers that the Narrows
Brings into Fall River uh so one of the things that they they asked me to highlight for them was that their concert series had over a million in ticket sales and so if I put that against the American for the Arts Impact calculator which we should all do
Because we will know what the impact of those dollars is and so I can tell you that that million in ticket sales equated to about $100,000 received in local and state government um through expenditures from the audience whether it was uh taxes or some type of license or fee for food or
Or whatever they paid for so every time um we we think about what the investment is that putting on a concert does there’s bigger investment on the back end of it um and so we we think about all these little small winds and actually these aren’t small WIS these
Are all big wins that these different some of these organizations that I’ve highlighted tonight have had um I really do just see the city um really just elevating itself like right up right up into the clouds it’s it’s been amazing um one of the things that we did not
Mention is that um besides Viva being the number one calendar and Frack having a great website is that uh Patty and I do a monthly TV show yes we do we do TVA uh so every month Patty and I are on TVA and for 30 minutes we talk about all the
Wonderful things that are happening in Fall River and always we give a little bit of time for Frack to talk specifically about uh what’s happening in the cultural sector there we are at the October we don’t look like that every time that was that was the October episode um but
Again it’s it’s really I want to make sure that at the end of the day that uh that my audience and that all of my supporters here realize that Fall River is on the rise we are on the rise and we are being recognized both in press we’re
Being recognized by funders um and we’re being recognized by tourists and other organizations um you know even last week when we had our opening reception here for Gretel Rosado uh Providence water fir there was a lot of folks here and they were taking note of what was
Happening in Fall River and we want more to keep coming into the city and taking note about what’s happening this is a hip place it is a cool place we have awesome restaurants to go and eat at there’s always something happening um the calendar probably has well over 300
Events so there’s something literally happening every night um but I I look forward to another exciting year for Frack uh we will be doing some uh some additional grants that will be coming out uh in the next week or so uh to six artists that will be activating the
Ignition space here and as we look a little later into the year uh we were lucky to receive Bristol County arpa funding and with those funds from Bristol County arpa we are working with assets for artists which is an organization out of M mocha to launch a whole building capacity program um and
So that will involve regranting as well and then it will also involve an ambassador program and events as there’s so many things attached to it but the exciting thing is is that it’s continuing and it’s important that it continues because our work is not done here we have made great strides for the
Creative sector but I feel that we have a long way to go still and that’s only going to happen if uh if entities like frat can be able to uh make investments back into the community still um whether it’s through individuals or through organizations and again the professional
Development part being such a key piece of it um and so I look forward to I see my partner Kathleen from Grimshaw GT’s Gallery at Bristol Community College we’ll be having classes here in February and March um to start talking about professional development from the gallery side and from the audience side
Of it as well so there’s there’s so many things happening so many wonderful things happening but I thank you so much for coming out tonight and if you had any questions for I guess any of us right we’re we’re all going to stick around and we’d be happy to answer any
Questions that you have and again enjoy the hot chocolate bar thank you Choco Latte Cafe and again thank you so much for coming out this evening