Arts and Cultural Heritage Tourism Workshop in Springfield May 12

Bring Economic Development to Your Community—develop Arts & Cultural Heritage Tourism

MU Extension’s “Arts and Cultural Heritage Tourism” workshop is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday, May 12 at the Springfield Botanical Center, 2400 S. Scenic Ave., Springfield, Mo.

The cost of the program is $20 per person and includes lunch and materials. Registration for the workshop can be completed online at http://extension.missouri.edu/greene, by calling the Greene County MU Extension office at (417) 881-8909, or by visiting the office in person.

Program sponsors include University of Missouri Extension, Greene County MU Extension, Springfield-Greene County Park Board and Hamra Enterprises and Wendy’s Restaurants.

A hands-on workshop with curriculum to follow.

This innovative workshop and curriculum provides you with the knowledge and tools to increase local and regional economy through tourism initiatives that focus on the arts, culture and heritage.

·         Learn how the arts, culture and history can be a cornerstone for tourism and economic development

·         Explore how arts and cultural heritage tourism can align with agri-business, eco-tourism and adventure based tourism

·         Assess if arts and cultural heritage tourism is a fit for your community or region

·         Plan for, develop, implement, and evaluate arts and cultural heritage tourism programs, events and attractions, from a community standpoint

·         Learn how tourism focused on community arts, culture and history can contribute to community pride, stability, growth, preservation and protection of resources, and economic development in a community or region

Studies show that heritage travelers stay longer at their destination, spend more money and tend to put money back in the communities they visit. Over the years, travelers have outgrown homogenized places and are now looking for unique, authentic experiences—such as those that include the arts, culture and history of a region.

This workshop is a hands-on-training to pilot Arts and Cultural Heritage Tourism curriculum to be released in the fall of 2017. The workshop and curriculum focuses on assessing, developing, designing, implementing, managing and evaluating arts and cultural heritage tourism attractions, events or initiatives from a community standpoint.

Who should attend?

This workshop is geared towards leaders in community arts organizations, art studios and galleries, heritage festivals, lodging businesses, chambers of commerce.

Workshop participants can come from a variety of fields - tourism, historic preservation, the arts, humanities, agri-businesses, museums, economic development, convention and visitor bureau, community betterment, main street projects, small business owners, heritage areas, and many other fields. Participants can include entrepreneurs, small business owners, non-profit organizations, government departments, federal agencies and coalitions formed to bring these and other partners together.