WinnipegFIRST

• Posted: Dec 16th 2009, 13:30 / Written by: Ezra Ginsburg
• Tagged as: Culture on Every Corner, Destination Winnipeg, Winnipeg Arts Council

Winnipeg is definitely a city that takes pride in its arts and cultural scene.

Home to an internationally-revered ballet company, live theatre venues, outstanding music festivals and a dynamic visual arts and film community, Winnipeg is creatively rich and often defined through its cultural institutions by residents and tourists alike.

In fact, an economic impact study commissioned by the Winnipeg Arts Council in early December reported that the city’s arts and cultural institutions contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to local economic activity and employ tens of thousands of people in the city (see “Arts doubles draw of pro sports in city”, Winnipeg Free Press, December 9, 2009).

It makes sense then that eight major non-profit arts organizations teamed up with Destination Winnipeg, the city’s main economic and tourism agency, to introduce Culture On Every Corner, a promotional campaign launched in October, with a snazzy website as its centerpiece.

The mission is to showcase the major arts groups in a synergistic way. The eight arts groups (The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, The Manitoba Museum, Manitoba Opera, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Prairie Theatre Exchange, Winnipeg Art Gallery and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra) are the main partners of the campaign and they saw the need to collaborate and promote themselves together as a complete tourist package and will offer special offers and prizes to those who sign up for The Cultured Club, a membership service.

The Culture on Every Corner campaign was undoubtedly released looking into the horizon, as the River City (unofficial capital of the Prairies) is set to become the official Cultural Capital of Canada in 2010. Manitoba Homecoming 2010 is also scheduled for next year, a year-long cavalcade of events that will feature among other things a colossally sized social in May and a major concert at The Forks.

But we digress. The website is our focus. You may have already visited Culture on Every Corner. Or you may have seen the ads which have graced the sides of the iconic orange and yellow Winnipeg Transit buses that drive around town.

From a critical point of view, the website is aesthetically pleasing to the eye and is unobtrusive, allowing visitors to easily view profiles of all eight arts groups, view or download events calendars and sign up for promotions. The genius of the website from a user’s perspective is its simplicity.