Cultural heritage focus of new state initiative

FORT SMITH -- For years, the Department of Arkansas Heritage has asked people to come to its four museums -- in Little Rock and Helena-West Helena -- to explore their Arkansas heritage. The slogan was "Your Heritage Is Here."

This fall, the department will begin an advertising campaign to promote "Arkansas heritage tourism," said Stacy Hurst, director of the department.

The television and print ads will encourage people to find their heritage all across the state, from historic buildings to small-town mom-and-pop restaurants. The new slogan will be "Authentic Arkansas."

Hurst said the campaign could increase tourism in Arkansas.

Hurst told a dozen legislators about the plan at a meeting Wednesday of the Senate's committee on state agencies and governmental affairs. The meeting was held at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith. Hurst's presentation was one of four under an agenda section titled "Discussion of the state's role in economic development in the black community."

Hurst, a former Little Rock city director, took over as head of the Department of Arkansas Heritage in January.

Hurst said "Arkansas heritage tourism" has never been developed.

"I think we can do a better job within our department of developing that piece of tourism," she told the legislators. "So we are focusing on culture and heritage tourism, taking our existing dollars and redirecting it more on a message that tries to tell people about the wonderful things across the state that make it an interesting place to visit, a unique place to visit."

Hurst said the message is still being honed.

"I think it has the potential to have a significant effect, particularly on some parts of the Delta that need job creation, that need more economic opportunity," she said.

Melissa Whitfield, a spokesman for Arkansas Heritage, said the department has been working with Mangan Holcomb Partners, a Little Rock advertising agency.

The focus of the new campaign will be on cultural and heritage sites that may go unnoticed by the average tourist. Whitfield wouldn't reveal any specific sites that might be featured in the ads.

"It could be in your own neighborhood," she said. "Just looking at your own town differently, your immediate surroundings, what's worth saving and restoring, what's authentic about it."

Whitfield said the department will spend about $175,000 on televisions advertisements that will air periodically from November through December and again from April until about mid-June. The ads will air on KATV in Little Rock; KFSM, and KHBS/KHOG, both in Northwest Arkansas; and KAIT in Jonesboro.

Whitfield said the $175,000 the department is spending on television advertising is consistent with previous years.

After Wednesday's meeting, Hurst said Arkansas Heritage has a two-year contract -- at $650,000 per year -- with Mangan Holcomb. She said the department will ask the Legislature to increase that appropriation to $750,000 per year.

The Department of Arkansas Heritage was created in 1975 to preserve and promote Arkansas's natural and cultural heritage. The department includes three agencies -- the Arkansas Arts Council, the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission -- and four museums: the Delta Cultural Center in Helena-West Helena; and the Historic Arkansas Museum, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center and the Old State House Museum, all of which are in Little Rock.

NW News on 10/01/2015

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