Events
Overview: Summer is the time to get your holiday events, lighting and winter activations in gear! Join this webinar for three success stories. Hear from Downtown Grand Rapids, Inc., which curated the 2021 Pinnacle Award-winning project, “World of Winter,” attracting over 400,000 attendees during its two-month activation. Additionally, the Georgetown BID offers tips on successful holiday and lighting programs, and Midtown Alliance in Atlanta explains the secrets to the Midtown Bright program’s sustained annual growth.
Learning Objectives:
- Learn the best time of year to start planning for the holiday season.
- Develop an understanding of building a winter event.
- Understand the intricacies of planning, purchasing and installing a lighting program.
July 9, 2021 | 11:15am ET (8:15am PT)
Domain: Marketing, Communications and Events
Pricing: IDA Members: Free | Nonmembers: $40
Advancing Places is an online series aimed at empowering IDA members with the solutions needed to address the most critical urban issues of the day. This session will include a moderated Q&A and will be recorded for member and nonmember use in the future.
Speakers:
- Lauren Bohn Radman, Program Manager, Urban Design and Placemaking, Midtown Alliance (Atlanta, GA)
- Kimberly Van Driel, Director of Public Space Management, Downtown Grand Rapids, Inc. (Grand Rapids, MI)
- John Wiebenson, Operations Director, Georgetown BID (Washington, DC)
Moderator:
- David Downey, President & CEO, International Downtown Association
Speakers
Lauren Bohn Radman
Program Manager, Urban Design and Placemaking, Midtown Alliance
Lauren Bohn is the Program Manager of Placemaking and Public Art at Midtown Alliance. Her recent work has focused on defining the organization’s creative placemaking program, contributing to plans for a robust open space network and establishing Midtown’s signature holiday lighting display, Midtown Bright. Her ability to develop collaborative relationships with property owners and district stakeholders has led to the transformation of numerous underutilized plazas into engaging publicly-accessible spaces. In 2020, Lauren and her team launched Midtown Heart of the Arts, an arts umbrella program that spearheaded the creation of arts residencies in Midtown in addition to ongoing public art commissions and community-centered arts programming.
Kimberly Van Driel
Director of Public Space Management, Downtown Grand Rapids, Inc.
Kimberly Van Driel is passionate about community activation through placemaking initiatives in her downtown of Grand Rapids, MI. As the Director of Public Space Management for Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. (DGRI), she serves as a curator for her downtown through public art, décor, events, programming, and parks. By combining her love of art, events and planning she has been able to help create long lasting memories for citizens within her community. Her experience with place management and event planning utilizing tactical urbanism has led her to capture citizens who live, work, play, and visit the downtown by endorsing local creativity and talent. Through her work with community outreach, her team works with many local partners to highlight cultures and showcase diversity within the community to create inclusive activities for all that visit the downtown area. Kim is focused on empowering local artists, organizers, planners, and makers to get involved in the building of their downtown through their own placemaking initiatives help which help to strengthen our community’s connection with the city of Grand Rapids.
John Wiebenson
Operations Director, Georgetown BID
John oversees the public space improvement, cleaning, and maintenance programs. This includes maintaining sidewalks, painting light poles, emptying trash cans, managing a public space recycling program and doing other work to enhance Georgetown’s public space as well as coordinating city agencies to help keep Georgetown clean and operating properly. In addition, John administers Georgetown’s flower basket and landscaping programs, as well as its public safety programs. Previously, he spent 15 years working at Martha’s Table in Washington, DC as the Operations Director overseeing the facilities, volunteer programs, food programs and fleet programs. John has a BA in Communications from Colorado State University. He lives in Silver Spring, MD with his wife and two children. John enjoys participating and watching sports, cooking, and spending time with his family.
More Information
Registration information: When registering for a webinar, please complete the sign-up as yourself and not your organization. If additional staff would like to attend the same webinar, each individual must register as themselves to receive their unique login link. Questions? Email registration@downtown.org.
IDA is committed to making our educational sessions accessible to everyone, regardless of ability, and to reasonably accommodating the assistive needs of our members, attendees and partners. We are actively working to increase the accessibility of our offerings. In so doing, we strive to comply with the available standards and guidelines under the Americans with Disabilities Act and related laws to the greatest extent possible. If you are having trouble accessing an IDA offering, or have a question regarding session accessibility features, please contact IDA at registration@downtown.org for assistance.
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