GRAND RAPIDS - Doug Small likely wasn't alone in how he reacted to the initial pitch for ArtPrize, and he's certainly not alone in thinking the contest went well beyond expectations.

Small, president of the Grand Rapids/Kent County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said he and his staff had a hard time "getting our arms around" Rick DeVos' concept for the world's largest art competition. The mission for DeVos' "experiment" � to create a conversation about the arts�wasn't the easiest to grasp for the downtown marketing agency, let alone have them devise a way to craft it to potential visitors.

"We just sort of let it happen," Small told M&C. "We said we will do what we do best � market the location �and oh, by the way, we now have the world's biggest art prize."

The CVB helped encourage downtown hotels to extend their summer rate packages, but the organization decided early on that it would take a hands-off approach to the event. They wanted to figure out exactly what the experiment was and to see if it would prove to be a success, he said.

When he first heard the concept, Small envisioned another downtown festival that maybe drew people from around the region to go downtown once during the duration. He thought the crowd would be more the hardcore art lovers, young urban professionals, college students, empty nesters and the like.

Small happily admits how wrong he was.

"None of us in our wildest imaginations thought that it would draw large numbers and people from further away than what we anticipated," Small said. "I was wrong �it wasn't someone coming down from Ada once; they're doing it two or three times. It was awesome."

Having one ArtPrize under his belt and a better understanding of the event's potential, Small said the competition elevates Grand Rapids' "destination appeal." To be considered a destination, a city needs to have a strong lodging and meeting space infrastructure in place, a lively arts and culture scene, and ample fine dining �all of which the city has.

Whether people outside the region know about it is another story.

"Planners love cities with a lively arts and culture scene. All of us locally have known for a while that we do have one, and it's as good as cities twice our size. What was missing was the exposure of it � ArtPrize took care of that," Small said. "Between a quality infrastructure, arts and culture, and an elevated dining scene, it creates a broad destination appeal we think is marketable. We just had no clue something like ArtPrize would come along and do something for us. �We want ArtPrize to position us as more edgy and progressive than people think we are. We don't expect to compare to Chicago and Dallas, but if you're looking for four-star quality at two-star prices � we have that."

ArtPrize planners and the CVB agreed to work together to promote the arts as much as possible �the city's Pure Michigan ad with actor Tim Allen touted its arts and dining, for example �but they also felt that, because of the unknowns with the inaugural event, they wouldn't take drastic action to track ArtPrize's economic impact, mostly because that impact wasn't central to the event's original mission. Thus, strong metrics aren't readily available on the event's impact, but one need merely to have been downtown during the two and a half weeks to have seen anecdotal evidence. Streets were packed with onlookers, ArtPrize maps clenched in their hands.

"We've all seen how the restaurants did, how the retail did," he said, noting some restaurants reported all-time records for business. That said, the downtown lodging, including the Amway collection and the Days Hotel, saw a 34-percent increase in leisure traffic in 2009 compared to 2008 during the weeks ArtPrize was in full swing.

Small befriended an artist from Florida who came up to Grand Rapids with her son and asked her to track her spending while she was in town. Over several days, the woman spent $1,600 on retail, hotel, and restaurant bills, plus raved about how hospitable people were.

"That's about double what a traditional convention delegate would spend during a convention," he said. "People came to town and spent money."

Planning ahead

Next year will be different, according to Small. The CVB is already developing its marketing plan to highlight the 2010 ArtPrize, and Small said his group will be taking an aggressive approach.

As he sees it, the CVB has the ability to make an impact in bringing in two types of audiences for ArtPrize: the art lovers themselves and the leisure travelers. Getting the art lovers to town is as simple �and complex �as getting the word out to arts organizations around the country. The CVB is engaging the local arts and design community, as well as academia, to better understand which national groups to target. Reaching the leisure crowd is more difficult and takes a "shotgun" approach, Small said.

Ideally, the CVB would like to secure an arts industry convention to coincide with ArtPrize and help fill even more hotel rooms, he said.

Why does an event like this matter for local businesses? Small said the impact might not be immediate for manufacturers and others in traditional industry, but tourism has a place in talent attraction. People coming here for ArtPrize might fall in love with the city and decide to buy a home here, plus the event could help draw in "young, energetic talent."

"A lot of things transcend tourism," he said. "If we're out marketing nationally and we're successful doing that, a visitor could become a future homeowner, a future business owner. As business improves, it maybe won't be as hard to sell the Grand Rapids brand to that young, energetic talent, and we'll have an opportunity to drive that new talent here.

"And this has a broader benefit. The state of Michigan has been pummeled in the media nationally. For us to have ArtPrize come along and put bright light on a part of Michigan, it shows us some ray of light, some hope at the end of the tunnel. At the very least, it's another marketing tool for us." M&C