Feedback: June 2023

Q: Your attraction is beloved by Arizonans and tourists alike. How are you reaching those different markets?

Craig Culy

Acting Director
Musical Instrument Museum
Sector: Arts & Culture

MIM’s unique connection to Arizona emanates outward and helps it attract visitors from near and far. MIM consists of a museum displaying more than 4,200 instruments from around the world and the world-class MIM Music Theater. We invite Arizonans to engage with the museum and theater through a regional advertising strategy that includes outdoor, digital, broadcast and print — as well as through our collateral and social media platforms. Our team has also built relationships in the music and arts community to involve local artists in our programming, such as I Am AZ Music® concerts and Signature Events. 

Special exhibitions help draw tourists to the museum. These audiences are also interested in our collection, specifically the Geographic Galleries. Our long-time relationships with tourism outlets like Visit Phoenix and concierge services at hotels and convention centers help us connect with these audiences, even before they visit Arizona. 

We are delighted to consistently receive positive feedback from guests. These reviews positively impact our growth and help us reach audiences through word of mouth or through reviews on sites like Tripadvisor.  

Craig Culy joined MIM in December 2009. His role has evolved over the years, expanding and adding new responsibilities as the museum advances; he was previously chief financial officer and chief operating officer at MIM. Currently, as the acting director, Culy is responsible for overseeing all facets of the operations of a multimillion-dollar organization. He is also MIM’s board treasurer.

Jennifer McCabe

Director and Chief Curator
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Sector: Arts & Culture

As a contemporary art space, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) strives to be forward-thinking and relevant to our audiences, so keeping in touch with diverse markets is essential. In more traditional ways, we focus on regular paid advertising in digital, broadcast and print formats, including local, national and international publications. For more flexible and organic promotion efforts, we use weekly email marketing, social media, news releases and direct-mail brochures. As tourists comprise an important audience, SMoCA also works with local hotel partners to provide printed material to their guests.

Additionally, SMoCA has a number of strategic partnerships to help us reach new audiences. These include the City of Scottsdale, with which we are collaborating on an upcoming Juneteenth event; Experience Scottsdale, which promotes various art-focused months during the year and sends travel writers from around the world to the museum; our SMoCA Advisory Council members, who help promote and advocate within the local arts community; and publications like Southwest Contemporary, a regional arts publication that regularly features SMoCA through exhibition reviews.

SMoCA is part of the nonprofit Scottsdale Arts.  

Since 2018, Jennifer McCabe, Ph.D., has been the director and chief curator of Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, named Best Museum by the Phoenix New Times in 2022. Her curatorial practice and writing explore intersectional feminisms, site-responsive commissions and artist interventions. She is also a faculty associate at Arizona State University in the Museum Studies program.

Kenneth J. Schutz

The Dr. William Huizingh Executive Director
Desert Botanical Garden
Sector: Arts & Culture

We have very strong attendance from both local residents and tourists, but our strategies for each market are very different. Locally, we try to reach everyone directly through social media, with supplementary TV and print. For tourists, we hope they will find Phoenix and Arizona on social media or in print media, and book a trip here. Then, when they know they are coming, we hope they dig deeper and find out about us as a “must see” attraction. 

We also collaborate with key tourist properties for an in-room presence, and count on concierges and other local word-of-mouth sources to drive tourists to the Garden.  

Ken Schutz has held executive leadership positions at cultural institutions for more than 40 years and has been at the helm of the Desert Botanical Garden since 2001. Previously, Schutz served on the Institute for Museum and Library Services Board by appointment of President Obama, as an accreditation commissioner for the American Alliance of Museums, and as president of the American Public Gardens Association.