BENTONVILLE -- The Advertising and Promotions Commission agreed during its meeting Thursday to give $14,000 to help pay for six events.
Commissioners approved giving $5,000 to three events this year and $9,000 next year. Commissioner James Smith was absent.
The commission grants money three times a year -- in March, July and October -- to applicants whose events draw people to Bentonville from outside a 50-mile radius. The money comes from a 2 percent tax on hotel and motel rooms and a 1 percent tax on restaurants and prepared food.
The Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra will receive $4,000 to help with marketing two concerts this year, one Sept. 9 and the other Dec. 17, and $4,000 to help with marketing two concerts next year, one Feb. 18 and the other April 15. All concerts will be at Bentonville High School's Arend Arts Center.
Orchestra officials estimate 5,000 people will attend their this concert season. Tickets are sold in Tulsa, Okla.; Springfield, Mo.; Eureka Springs and Fort Smith areas, according to the request for money application.
Marketing was "dramatically increased" last season thanks to the $4,500 the commission gave last year, Jason Miller, executive director of the orchestra, said. Ticket sales increased 37 percent.
"We're hoping to really catapult that into this next season," he said.
The Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra exchanged mailing lists with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra in Little Rock. The money given this season will be used to send mailers to the more than 13,000 names on the list, he said.
"This is a wonderful list because these are patrons who have purchased tickets to the Arkansas Symphony within the last two years," Miller said. "These are already classic music-goers who live in the Little Rock area, and I want to figure out how to get them to come here."
The NWA Polo Club will receive $1,000 from the tourism bureau for its Chix with Sticks Women's Polo Championships in October.
The club saw success when it held its first tournament last year at the Benton County Fairgrounds, said Susan Koehler, club president.
The club made around $6,000 in improvements to the arena, and hotel receipts were around $1,300 for the event, she said.
There will be a junior event incorporated this year.
"We're thinking we could have up to four teams in both categories, which would double the impact," Koehler said.
The Adams Pro Golf Tour requested $15,000 for a tournament next summer. Commissioners awarded $5,000.
The $15,000 is 25 percent of the tournament budget and would be used as seed money to "lesson the financial burden of the local nonprofit partner for the tour," according to the application.
Hosting the event nearby is contingent upon finding a golf course to play at and a nonprofit group to work with them, said Luke Charpentier, Visit Bentonville sales manager.
The event would bring in about 144 golfers over seven days, he said.
NW News on 07/29/2016