GRAND RAPIDS - The inaugural ArtPrize competition gives a boost to regional economic development and tourism marketing efforts, according to area officials.

Birgit Klohs, president and CEO of The Right Place Inc., said she markets a product called Grand Rapids and West Michigan — and ArtPrize improves that product.

"It’s a huge product improvement. It’s a repositioning in the minds of people who may not have thought of us as an arts community," Klohs told MiBiz. "To me, it’s spreading the word to a different audience about who we are, which is a huge plus for a lot of our marketing efforts."

Rick DeVos, founder of Spout.com and grandson of Amway co-founder Richard DeVos, announced ArtPrize on April 23. Artists from around the world have been invited to participate in the competition expected to award $400,000 in prize money including $250,000 for first place to the artist receiving the most public votes. The competition is privately funded by the Dick & Betsy DeVos Family Foundation.

Artworks and professional performances will be exhibited at hundreds of venues within three square miles in and around downtown Grand Rapids in lobbies, public spaces, parks and bridges.

Klohs said besides the boost to the city’s image as creative and design-oriented, the two-and-a-half week event promises to bring in visitors and fill hotel rooms. ArtPrize also represents the "engagement of the third generation from a very, very engaged entrepreneurial family," Klohs said.

Doug Small, CEO of the Grand Rapids/Kent County Convention & Visitors Bureau, is thrilled and wowed by the announcement of ArtPrize. Although the competition is an experiment in some ways with the dollar impact unknown, the event is very marketable for the CVB.

"It will help us put a face on this destination. We’ve always felt that one of our strengths was the phenomenal arts and culture scene," Small told MiBiz.

With his job in leading area promotional efforts, Small said ArtPrize is "almost like someone dropping a gift down." The area needed to capitalize on the arts and culture scene and the ArtPrize announcement could not be better timing, he said. The competition will hopefully fill most of Grand Rapids’ 6,500 hotel rooms during a normally slow time.

"We think there’s some great opportunities to capitalize on hotel room revenue we otherwise would not have gotten," Small said.

Small left Denver and moved to the Grand Rapids area in September 2008 to lead the CVB. He said the Grand Rapids area should be just as proud and boastful of its arts as Denver is.

"The definite overall package is here, and that’s what is so timely about (ArtPrize). It’s unique enough and has such a global appeal," Small said.

Michigan’s Cool Cities Program Manager Karen Gagnon said a project like ArtPrize is exactly what a large city should be doing.

"I think it’s a bold statement that speaks highly of the value of creativity of expression," Gagnon told MiBiz. "It’s about creating cool places and spaces and valuing the creative."

Gagnon has received e-mails from many people who are curious about ArtPrize and will be analyzing its impact.

"The thing that I love the most is that some people may look at this in this economy as kind of crazy and risky. This is exactly the stuff you need to do – you need to be taking some risks," Gagnon said.

Talent is currency in retaining and attracting knowledge workers and talent wants to live in vibrant, urban areas, according to Gagnon.

"You have to have vibrancy. The big think is density," she said. "A lot of people will be coming to Grand Rapids watching and observing while the artists are at work."