Issue link: http://tourismwpg.uberflip.com/i/994031
66 66 a. Community Branding Winnipeg is renowned as the "Cultural Cradle of Canada," and as a very multicultural, inclusive and diverse city. The city's unique range of arts and culture festivals greatly contribute to this image, with examples such as North America's second large Fringe Theatre Festival – Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival, the unique New Music Festival put on by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the world's largest and longest-running multicultural festival Folklorama, the highest rate of participation nationally in Culture Days, and the Master Playwright Festival put on by Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre. Winnipeg's festivals and events are often used as cornerstone examples of how and why Winnipeg has a very strong, vibrant and tight-knit arts and culture- oriented community. From a volunteering angle, Manitoba also has a reputation for its high rates of volunteerism and generosity. Local festivals and events provide a way of uniting the community through volunteer work, and as event organizers will attest, the incredible passion, turn-out and dedication of local volunteers are second to none. You'll find the words "Friendly Manitoba" emblazoned on provincial license plates, and this friendly, Prairie hospitality is always evident at local festivals and events when interacting with staff and volunteers. b. Tourism Marketing Winnipeg's lively festivals and events play a major role in supporting Winnipeg's brand image, particularly when it comes to tourism marketing. Travel Manitoba and Tourism Winnipeg frequently use images and video from local festivals to lure leisure visitors to the city (in Travel Manitoba's case, as part of its "Canada Heart Beats" branding), or when packaging specific tour offerings to operators around festivals and events, such as Folklorama or Festival du Voyageur. Tourism Winnipeg also shares its multimedia library with Destination Canada, who in turn uses these images to market Winnipeg as a city that embraces festivals, events, arts, culture and diversity to the world. Events and festivals are also heavily promoted by Tourism Winnipeg to its leisure, meetings & conventions, travel trade and travel media audiences. c. Convention Marketing Tourism Winnipeg actively promotes festivals and events to meeting and convention decision makers and clients in meetings, sales missions and marketing collateral -- such as the annual Winnipeg meetings and conventions magazine -- as part of the overall package of reasons why to bring a meeting or convention to Winnipeg. In some cases, festivals and events may be used as a draw to entice a meeting or convention to come to Winnipeg during a particular time, for example an Indigenous-based association may have further incentive to host their event in Winnipeg to take place at the same time as Manito Ahbee Festival. JJ Gill