Monday, September 21, 2009

Main Street Arkansas Update - September 21, 2009

Thanks to everyone for a great Destination Downtown conference. We have so many partners, I hesitate to list anyone for fear of leaving someone out. However, the citizens of El Dorado, including the city, A&P & Main Street El Dorado really stepped up to make the conference extraordinary. Again, thanks to all.

On a sad note, there was a terrible fire in historic downtown Morrilton last week. Five buildings were lost and more received exterior smoke damage. Our thoughts are with our friends in Morrilton.

Main Street Arkansas Calendar September 21-25, 2009
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MONDAY
TUESDAY Caroline, Susan & Mark – Texarkana
WEDNESDAY Caroline, Susan & Mark – Texarkana
THURSDAY Caroline – off
FRIDAY Cary – LR Sustainability Summit; Susan – Dumas; Caroline – off
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IN THIS ISSUE:
Fire in Historic Downtown Morrilton
Just Because it’s LEED, Doesn’t Make it Green
Main Street Texarkana Press
Livability Forum
For Festival & Event Producers
Preserving Arkansas’s Heritage
Twitter for Businesses


Fire in Historic Downtown Morrilton
http://www.fox16.com/news/local/story/Fire-destroys-4-buildings-damages-6-in-Morrilton/0KdqOVj8ik-h7CKkzDfWsg.cspx?rss=315

http://arkansasmatters.com/content/news/fulltext/?cid=255701

http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0909/659721.html

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=90981&catid=2

Just Because It’s LEED Certified, Doesn’t Mean It’s Green or Energy Efficient

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/science/earth/31leed.html?_r=1

MST Warns of Scam
http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/localnews/2009/09/03/main-street-warns-city-of-scam-67.php

MST Mural Discussion
http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/localnews/2009/09/09/main-street-texarkana-discusses-wood-str-7.php

Livability Forum
The Office of the Secretary of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration will host a webinar to discuss the new transportation and livability initiatives of the Obama administration including the Partnership for Sustainable Communities.
The webinar will be held September 24 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. EDT. More information and a link to register can be found by clicking this link: http://tinyurl.com/nyue9e.

Festival & Event Producers

Since 1985, the Southeast Tourism Society has published the Top 20 Events publication. Through a nomination process, the society chooses the Top 20 events going on in the Southeast for each month of the year, and publishes this list of winners quarterly. This publication is sent to over 300 newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations, and others, as well as 125 AAA publications. The combined circulation runs into the millions. Current Top 20 Events are listed online at http://southeasttourism.org/top20/top20_julsep09.html.

Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism is a member of the Southeast Tourism Society. As a result, festivals and events in Arkansas may be submitted for the Top 20 Events publication, if they meet the following requirements set forth by the Southeast Tourism Society:

• 1,000 in attendance
• 3rd year in existence
• Payment of $10 nomination fee per event

Top 20 Events strongly encourages you to strengthen your nomination by providing supporting material such as:

• Photos
• Posters
• Brochures
• Press Releases
• News Clippings
• Volunteer Programs
If you would like to nominate your event, contact the Tourism Development Section at (501) 682-5240 or e-mail kristine.puckett at arkansas.gov.

Deadlines for Applications:

Event Occurring In: Submit by:
April/May/June 2010 October 9, 2009
July/August/September 2010 January 8, 2010
October/November/December 2010 April 9, 2010
January/February/March 2011 July 9, 2010
April/May/June 2011 October 8, 2010
July/August/September 2011 January 7, 2011
October/November/December 2011 April 8, 2011
January/February/March 2011 July 8, 2011


Preserve Arkansas Heritage Project


In the spring of 2009, Arkansas received a Connecting to Collections Planning Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). This project, titled the Preserve Arkansas Heritage Project, brought together the Arkansas History Commission, the Arkansas State Library, The Arkansas State Parks, and Amigos Library Services. This project will provide the opportunity for these institutions to work together in a collaborative effort to reach all cultural institutions in Arkansas.

As part of this IMLS planning grant, the project Preserve Arkansas Advisory Board will review a statewide survey to select an initial 25 institutions to receive a one day, free, site survey to assess the conditions of artifacts and historical records statewide. The first set of surveys and preservation workshop will take place in Little Rock in late October. Other workshops will be held in state park facilities in the Ft. Smith area, the Mountain View area, the Powhatan area and the Bismarck area until June 2010.

Whether you are a museum, library, archive, historical group, historic house or scientific organization, an onsite conservation survey of your institution and its collections is one of the best ways to either lay a foundation for good collection care or improve good practices that are already in place. Any size institution can benefit. Conservators are trained to find sustainable long-term and short-term solutions to problems faced by institutions of all sizes, budgets and staffs. The solutions to better collection care will be matched with your capabilities, resources and potential.

When it comes to securing funding to address your needs, whether you appeal to your governing authority or apply for a grant, the recommendations of a professional conservator are strong tools for justifying your requests and supporting your goals.

After a conservation survey, your staff, board and governing authority will have a clear road map to a future of better collection care and have common objectives that will result in being able to better realize your short-term and long-term goals.

If you are interested in receiving FREE site survey as part of this project, please complete the project survey at http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e2kc1b6ufysy023g/start

The deadline for institutions in the Little Rock area to apply for the free site survey is Friday, September 18.
The deadline for all other locations throughout the state is Friday, October 16th.

TWITTER LAUNCHES NEW SMALL BUSINESS SITE

by Timothy Lee, Associate Extension Specialist, UALR Lead Center
Twitter, the popular social messaging tool, has launched a new site just for small businesses. Business.Twitter.com is a start-up resource for businesses wanting to learn about Twitter and how to begin to use Twitter in their marketing mix.

Twitter 101 is an online tutorial which explains Twitter to a small business owner in simple language. The tutorial advances into best practices and case studies.

Among the best practices, Twitter recommends making sure your tweets provide some real value. Here are a few examples to spark ideas:

• Offer Twitter-exclusive coupons or deals
• Take people behind the scenes of your company
• Post pictures from your offices, stores, warehouses, etc.
• Share sneak peeks of projects or events in development

Learn more at http://Business.Twitter.com.