I Attended a Meeting with the PACVB and Peoria Arts Community

I almost forgot to write about this, but last Thursday I attended a meeting at the Peoria Art Guild hosted by the Peoria Area Convention and Visitors Bureau with various members of the central Illinois arts community.  The PACVB was wanting to brainstorm with the arts organizations and local artists on how we can all work together to use the arts and arts attractions to help better promote tourism to the central Illinois area.  This is something I've been strongly advocating for a long time, and I'm encouraged by the new openness to making this happen.

As you'll know if you follow any of my work, I'm a huge proponent of both the arts and of leveraging the power of the arts to help drive the economy, tourism, education, and many other important areas of our society.  I truly believe the arts, culture, and yes, entertainment, are a driving force and a foundation of progress and vitality in all these areas.

So it's great to see this new opportunity in the Peoria area, and I'm looking forward to working with the rest of the arts community to take full advantage of it.

Here's a shot of me in a thoughtful moment at the meeting: