BY KEVIN KINDER Northwest Arkansas Times
It started as a marketing ploy.
But the Walton Art Center’s Young Professionals Arts Society has become something more, said Justin DeLille, the center’s corporate relations officer.
As he and the 20-member steering committee for the new group began looking for ways to attract young clientele to the art center’s slate of Broadway Series shows, the group learned there was a unfulfilled need.
“Our members have a place were they can network in a business environment,” DeLille said.
The idea for the new Arts Society has been something the WAC has contemplated for some time, said DeLille. After he was hired at the art center just more than a year ago, DeLille, a young professional himself, decided to take on the project.
He first met with a group of young professionals assembled from companies that DeLille works most closely with: WAC sponsors such as Sam’s Club, Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark and more.
During the March meeting, the group determined there was a market for the program. But that market, admittedly, is tough to define, DeLille said. In general, it includes people who are between 25-40, with or without kids.
“It’s very broad. … We’re not trying to be exclusive at all,” he said.
Ellie Miller, a steering committee member for the new group, said she hopes the organization will allow her to expand her networking opportunities outside of Procter & Gamble, where she serves as an account executive.
“For me, personally, it’s to expand my networking, and to help serve the community. But from a broader perspective, it’s helping the WAC gain awareness,” she said.
She also believes the area is attracting arts-conscious young professionals, and she sees many such people come to the area through corporate jobs, such as those at her company.
“I think especially when you consider the whole Northwest Arkansas corridor, the young professional demographic is growing,” she said.
There isn’t a formal enrollment process for the new group, explains DeLille. VIP members are made so by purchasing a season ticket to the Tuesday night productions of the WAC’s Broadway Series shows, which this season are “Monty Python’s SPAMALOT,” “Wizard of Oz,” “Cirque Eloize — Nebbia,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “RAIN: A Tribute to the Beatles” and a choice between “Avenue Q,” “Tango Fire” or “Comedy of Errors.” Packages for the six-show block begin at $130. VIP members are then given free admission to all arts society functions and exclusive seats near other Young Professional Arts Society members.
“You sit by those you met at the party,” DeLille said.
The “party” that DeLille mentions will be the primary networking opportunity for the young professional involved with the group. Before each of the center’s Tuesday-night Broadway shows, members will mingle and share complimentary hors d’oeuvres and drinks.
Other similar meet-andgreets will take place at events where a high turnout from a young demographic is expected, such as at the WAC’s opening show, “Second City: DeFace the Nation,” which took place Friday. Between 100 and 150 people were expected to attend the inaugural YPAS event, a social gathering with the cast of the Second City, a comedy troupe from Chicago.
VIP members of the new group were admitted free, other ticket holders were asked to pay $5.
Because the group is new, much of its future plans are unknown, DeLille said. But he knows that the group will continue to have pre- or postshow parties. As the group gains experience, it may begin fundraising for the arts center, but it is too soon to tell what form such an endeavor would take, he said.
Until then, charter members such as Miller said they are excited about the opportunities the group is giving people now by having fun and helping the arts center in the process.
“I think we have a unique need, a unique opportunity, to work with the young community,” she said. “And as we bring in new people to the area, they look for ways to get involved.”
Publication:Northwest Arkansas Times; Date:Sep 7, 2008
