Art & Algorithms brought arts in the digital domain to the Space Coast and on the streets of Downtown Titusville.
Art & Algorithms / Event Marketing / Branding / Tourism / Community Revitalization / Florida
The Art & Algorithms inaugural event –in October 2013 — brought arts in the digital domain to the Space Coast and on the streets of Downtown Titusville, with surprising visuals and hands-on interactive…and the first US showings of short films from Europe. the festival featured digital mapping and huge scale building projection, holographic and lenticular art images, digital photographic arts, celebrity artists, launch party, digital lounge, interactive alley and much more.
Art & Algorithms was a labor of community love, but for strong economic development purposes.
Other cities in the world have used arts and culture as a catalyst to help regenerate communities or to stimulate tourism, benefiting both the visitors and the local economy.
GOAL SETTING
This digital arts event reached younger age groups than traditionally have been attracted to arts festivals in this region. One of the goals was to provide a growing portrait of the area as welcoming and exciting for young professionals in the technical, digital arts to help create a healthy talent pipeline.
In the first year, we were successful in reaching balanced inquiry across the following three important Facebook demos:
18-24 22.21%
25-34 26.22%
35-44 20.61%
As percent of audience, this 69.04% engagement rate across the 18-44 demographic, represents 34.7% increase. In the coveted 18-34 age group, the reach represents more than 140% increase of interest by this age group for arts festival events, over traditional arts/recent history of festival events.
BENCHMARKS
Art & Algorithms has benchmarks, including Ars Electronica, which is a European festival in the digital arts, which grew from a startup festival event to a contemporary digital arts engine, and boasts a center of excellence, year-round projects on the edges of the latest digital thinking, and a robust attendance both for the festival and year round at the center. Additionally, this festival garners a large group of media and bloggers in digital development and it serves as a model for development locally/regionally for this leverage event.
PARTNERS
Art & Algorithms was a collaborative effort presented by Greater Titusville Renaissance in association with the Titusville Area Chamber of Commerce, Brevard Cultural Alliance and the City of Titusville Florida. Sponsored by Waste Management, Space Coast Office of Tourism, Parrish Medical Center, Bright House Networks, Florida Today Communications, Kennedy Center Visitors Complex and many more partners, including Brandt Ronat. Monster Media, Delaware North Companies, Brevard Public Schools and Florida Institute of Technology.
SUMMARY
Art & Algorithms was the incubation of a smart strategy with multiple paybacks, and it was understood by the producing group as an undertaking of great potential value but would equire incubation and investment of time and expertise. The festival continued for a couple of annual iterations. An interruption, however, by a hurricane threat cancelling the festival, and the subsequent loss of community will, ended the endeavor.
Those of us who worked to bring this festival to Titusville on the Space Coast of Florida understand that the premise is sound, and the value to community is high. Ars Electronica in Lintz, Austria, has reaped the rewards of such an incubation and investment, now world renown for its annual festival event, its Grand Prix prizes, the Ars Electronica Center, FutureLab, Deep Space 8K, research, residencies and more. To study this benchmark: https://ars.electronica.art/news/en/
Art & Algorithms preceded Orlando’s Creative City Project event called Immerse, which includes within its current producing group one of our key contributors. Artists and digital producers from around the world are still counted as friends.
