Tourism Panel’s Donation Helps Amazeum

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

When it comes to public entities, it’s always far easier to debate how to spend available money than it is to figure out how not to spend money because of a shortfall.

Advertising and promotion commissions are always the kinds of public entities with money seemingly to spare. These entities, funded directly with local taxes on restaurant foods and hotel stays, don’t have the burdens of operating must-have public services like police and fire departments or trash pickup.

They spend their millions trying to attract visitors and their disposable incomes to their respective communities, and the better a community does in attracting people, the more money they have to spend to attract more visitors.

That’s not to say decisions by advertising and promotion commissions are always easy.

In Fayetteville, for example, the commission is engaged in a discussion about what kind of organizations should receive public funding for local events. Should the funding be used solely as start-up seed money for nascent events? Or should money be allocated as a kind of incentive to draw events operated by organizations that already have big budgets? Even bigger decisions center on long-term commitments for funding, such as Fayetteville’s use of advertising revenue to support expansion of the Walton Arts Center and construction of a new regional park’s athletic fields.

The answer is really all of the above, and the debate is necessary to determine how to portion out limited dollars.

In Bentonville, the city’s advertising and promotion commission stands ready to invest in a long-term venture that, in conjunction with the city’s world-class art museum, could become a major draw for visitors for years to come.

The commission recently agreed to a six-year commitment totaling $300,000 in support of the Amazeum.

The museum, formerly known as the Children’s Museum of Northwest Arkansas, will be built on 5 acres at Northeast J Street and Museum Way. The 44,500-square-foot facility will include an outdoor classroom, play and picnic areas and a community garden. In addition to its educational and entertaining features for kids and families, organizers say the museum will also offer corporate team-building and training opportunities.

As with any decision about public funding, the question to ask is fair: Should the commission dedicate these public tax dollars to the museum, with its ongoing fundraising efforts and existing philanthropic support?

The Amazeum is exactly the kind of venture local advertising and promotion commission dollars should help support. It gives the community as a whole a stake in the success of an important tourism-generating facility.

“At the end of the day, community support is what is going to make us survive and thrive,” said Holly Hook, the Amazeum’s capital campaign director.

We’d hesitate to suggest such funding should continue beyond the “seed” money level.

Hopefully, any such effort will be so successful it won’t need the commission’s money after it’s up and running. But a $50,000-a-year commitment is a reasonable expenditure of money intended to promote just the kind of tourism the Amazeum promises to deliver in the years ahead.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 12/31/2013