Museum receives tourism grant
Published 12:00 am Friday, July 15, 2016
LaGRANGE — LaGrange Art Museum has been granted participation in the 2016 Georgia Tourism Foundation 1:1 Monetary Match Program, allowing it to host and promote a local exhibit expected to draw tourists worldwide.
Art museum officials said the local exhibit should draw about 27,000 visitors from the United States and internationally. They estimate the visitors will spend a total $4.75 million locally during the 10-month exhibit.
In October 2016, the LaGrange Art Museum will open the exhibit “In the Land of Pasaquan.” It opens in tandem with the grand re-opening of Pasaquan, a 7-acre art site in Marion County developed by the late Eddie Owens Martin that features six major structures, murals and painted decorative masonry walls.
Nearly 30 years after the artist’s death, the Kohler Foundation, the Pasaquan Preservation Society and Columbus State University partnered to refurbish and re-open the site.
For 10 months — Oct. 28 to Aug. 5, 2017 — the museum exhibit of “In the Land of Pasaquan” will host pen and ink drawings, watercolors, articles of crafts and costumes, decorative objects, writings, photographs and other materials relating to Martin’s life and Pasaquan.
As part of the monetary match program, Atlanta-based Travelport will promote the exhibit through digital media, sweepstakes and other methods with the goal of drawing more visitors to the area.
Highly competitive, the Georgia Tourism Foundation monetary match is only being granted to 15 tourism-related organizations.
The program matches foundation funds to partner investments of $6,667 for a total investment of $13,334, enabling participants to take advantage of promotional tools that target travel agents and consumers, stated museum officials. The promotional tools would otherwise be beyond the means of small nonprofits like LaGrange Art Museum, officials added.
The museum sits in the Presidential Pathways tourism region. The region includes Chattahoochee River white water, FDR’s pools and Warm Springs Museum, the Andersonville Civil War Prison, President Jimmy Carter’s home, areas to explore the origins of Coca-Cola, hiking trails and Callaway Gardens.