Creative Class

The  Creative Class is seeking authentic experiences wherever they go, and communities are seeking their energy and dollars. One result:  the art hotel.  According to the Washington Post, they’re big in Europe and growing fast in the States.  While not an entirely new concept, it does offer some great inspiration to CVB’s, art councils, downtown associations and hoteliers looking for ways to support their local artists and promote authentic opportunities for cultural tourism.

Excerpts from the full story after the jump…

The Post also lists five of their favorite art hotels (which are pretty affordable), check ‘em out if you’re looking for a summer getaway. Let us know what you think!

Posted by Amanda.

The lighting accentuates the bold mixed-media works of art hanging
on walls of exposed brick. Except for the plasma television and
four-poster bed with Egyptian cotton sheets, my room at the Lancaster
Arts Hotel could easily pass for a downtown New York gallery.

Opened
a few months ago, the 63-room hotel tucked away on a side street in
Lancaster, Pa., is the latest in a new wave of art hotels: properties
that combine accommodations with art displays. Like most of this breed,
the Lancaster Arts Hotel has its own gallery and promotes an eclectic
mix of local artists. The art adds not only aesthetic appeal but also a
vibrant element that encourages guest interaction….

…..At the Hotel des Arts in San Francisco, for instance, the developers
took a run-down boardinghouse and gave a motley mix of artists an
unrestricted mission to make over the guest rooms. The result has the
feel of a high-energy gallery that offers overnight accommodations…..

…..The art-lodging partnership has also been a boon to artists. Two
years after it was renovated and reopened as an art hotel, Toronto’s
Gladstone has become a popular venue for Canadian artists seeking to
promote themselves. With their profiles duly raised, many of the
artists whose works are on exhibit in the Max in Seattle have been
invited to exhibit in major galleries.

"Some of them were
little-known but doing amazing work," said Tessa Papas, curator of the
300 photos and paintings at the Max. "Part of our goal was to give them
exposure."

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 5th, 2007 at 10:08 am and is filed under Community Strategies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.