Two ideas for feedback

Ron Soto and I are working for Go Downtown Salem to create a branding strategy and marketing plan for downtown Salem. It plan will be done at the end of July. Our rough draft will be done in two weeks, so any input will need to be done quickly.

The purpose of our project is to cause a large increase in the number of people "using" downtown. The mayor, residents, and Vision 2020 have said that a high priority is getting more art in front of the public downtown. For our project, we have decided that we don't think it's very important to have only judged gallery shows, and approved concerts of known quality. Some disagree with us, but we think there is value in just getting visual and performing arts in front of people and letting the market sort it out. People who don't like the music leave. If they don't like the painting, they don't look at or buy it. At least there was a readily available opportunity to get it in front of the public, even if the public doesn't care about it.

The ideas on the table for discussion specifically are: large display racks that one could sign up for or rent and display/ sell visual art along the sidewalks, and low platforms maybe at street corners that musicians or performing artists could sign up for online and get in front of the public. I want to know 1.) if people would want to use these, and 2.) if they hate the idea and have a better one. We are trying to make all of our ideas easy to implement. Just for context, it took 30 years to get Riverfront Park built. Something complicated and expensive could take a very long time.

We would also welcome feedback about the type of kiosks needed, and where they should go. FYI, we will be recommending some fancy ones that will be prominent. It is possible to use two sides of those for concert announcements. Otherwise, if artist-oriented kiosks were going to look bad, sloppy, etc., they would need to in less visible areas. This is purely a matter of what I can get to fly. There's no reason to push for things that won't happen.

We will use the feedback to shape our ideas that are presented in August and September to the various boards, the mayor, and Vision 2020.