Wings & Strings

GOALS

This community event was part of the City of Hapeville's free Downtown Live Concert Series. My priorities were to: 

• create a concert that would appeal to Hapeville's diverse residents, strengthening their positive connections with one another and the City of Hapeville.

• advance Hapeville's economic interests by attracting new attendees from outside the city and introducing them to our downtown area.

• support Hapeville's broader communications strategy of branding itself "a home for the arts."

CHALLENGES

For this an other community concerts, creating a music lineup that is interesting yet has mainstream appeal is a hard balance to strike, especially since local municipalities all tend to book the same cover bands. Additionally, because there are so many free concert series in the metro-Atlanta area, competition for attendance and vendors is stiff.

STRATEGIES

• One of my preferred strategies for increasing event attendance is to create a sense of investment in potential attendees by adding components in which they are already invested. To achieve this, I invited bands from Girls Rock Camp ATL to play two songs before the headliner, which resulted in additional attendance from their friends and family.

• I branded the concert Wings & Strings so that the name would not only be easy to remember, but would also concisely convey the content of the event. This name also took advantage of Atlanta's obsession with chicken wings!

• Lastly, I addressed the difficulty of selecting an appropriate headliner by booking a band that appealed to Hapeville's "artsy" identity — yet was willing to play a few cover songs and knew how to interact with a diverse, multigenerational audience. 
   

IMPACT
We had a high turnout despite the threat of thunderstorms, and food vendors sold out. We received strong positive feedback in person and online about both the band and the "vibe" of Hapeville. This event contributed to Hapeville's self-perception as a tightknit, inclusive community, while also so increasing outside awareness of our businesses and arts programming.