2012 Tourism Product Development Grants Awarded
Georgia Tourism and Georgia Council for the Arts combine resources to fund more projects
The Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) has awarded $200,000 in product development grants to 23 tourism entities across the state. Georgia Tourism and the Georgia Council for the Arts, both divisions of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, combined resources to maximize the reach of the 2012 Tourism Product Development grants.
“As a result of the partnership between Georgia Tourism and the Georgia Council for the Arts, the impact of these grants is far greater,” said Gov. Nathan Deal. “The enthusiastic response to these grants gives merit to the fact that the arts and tourism go hand in hand, and when they work together, provide benefits that support the economic vitality of the entire state.”
The Tourism Product Development grant program was designed to financially support tourism development activities at the local level that sustain and create jobs, and support Georgia’s creative economies with an emphasis on local artists and the nonprofit arts industry. The Georgia Department of Economic Development received 82 applications for the 2012 Tourism Product Development grant program – an increase of more than 50 from last year – amounting to more than $1.2 million in requests.
“Partnerships like this will produce projects that increase tourism opportunities and provide more awareness of the arts while creating jobs that sustain the economy,” said Kevin Langston, deputy commissioner for Tourism for the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
“The Tourism Product Development grants awards will support nonprofit arts organizations and individual artists in a way Georgia Council for the Arts has not been previously able to do,” said GCA Director Karen L. Paty. “This grant award creates the opportunity as well as provides the resources to support and generate increased awareness of the impact the arts industry has on the state's economy.”
Recipients of the 2012 Tourism Product Development Grants include:
Blue Ridge Mountain Arts Association (Fannin County)
Clayton County
Dalton Area Convention & Visitors Bureau
Horse Creek Winery (Nashville)
City of Homerville
Carroll County Board of Commissioners
Flannery O'Conner-Andalusia Foundation (Milledgeville)
Carrollton Area Convention & Visitors Bureau
City of Sylvester
Friends of Downtown Americus
City of Thomasville
City of Ringgold
Springfield Revitalization Corp.
Chattooga County
Sautee Nacoochee Community Center
Lafayette Society for the Performing Arts (LaGrange)
Phoenix Academy Theatre, Inc. (Avondale Estates)
Tubman African American Museum (Macon)
City of Moultrie
Aurora Theatre, Inc. (Lawrenceville)
Springer Opera House (Columbus)
Atlanta Preservation Center
Georgia Tourism’s Product Development team assists private for-profit, nonprofit and local governments by providing resources and financial assistance to develop tourism product across Georgia.
Georgia Council for the Arts provides support for nonprofit arts organizations throughout the state. Established in 1965 as the Georgia Commission on the Arts, its mission is to encourage excellence in the arts, support the arts’ many forms of expressions and make the arts available to all Georgians by providing funding, leadership, programming and other services.
About GDEcD
The Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) is the state's sales and marketing arm, the lead agency for attracting new business investment, encouraging the expansion of existing industry and small businesses, locating new markets for Georgia products, attracting tourists to Georgia and promoting the state as a destination for arts events and location for film, music and digital entertainment projects, as well as planning and mobilizing state resources for economic development. www.georgia.org