Why ArtPrize could only happen in a place like Grand Rapids

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- ArtPrize, the $560,000 art competition and urban exhibition that turns downtown into a strolling art gallery each fall, is a one-of-a-kind event that could only happen in a place like Grand Rapids.

Other cities have thought about having their own.

After all, an economic impact study commissioned last year by Experience Grand Rapids determined ArtPrize had a $22 million impact on Grand Rapids, drawing nearly 390,000 visits during ArtPrize 2013.

Related: ArtPrize 2014 in Grand Rapids: Complete guide to enjoying the event

What city wouldn't want to get in on that?

Some have sent representatives to Grand Rapids for a looksee. Last September, the 13th annual CEOS for Cities held its annual conference here, timed to coincide with ArtPrize 2013.

Just a coincidence? The conference's theme was "The Art of the Collaborative City."

Related: What is ArtPrize? How to explain ArtPrize to your out-of-town family and friends

The best proof that it takes a city like Grand Rapids to launch an event like ArtPrize is it hasn't happened anywhere else. At least not yet.

Here are six reasons why ArtPrize could only happen in a place like Grand Rapids.

1. An art aficionado with assets – ArtPrize founder Rick DeVos had a vision of organizing a completely different event in Grand Rapids. One involving art but using technology. The grandson of Amway co-founder Rich DeVos also had the financial resources to put it in motion.

With the promise of nearly $450,000 in prize money from the DeVos family, longtime benefactors of arts and culture in Grand Rapids, the community sat up, took notice and joined the ArtPrize bandwagon.

2. A love of art in public places – Alexander Calder's "La Grande Vitesse," installed downtown in 1969, was the first work of public art supported by the brand-new National Endowment for the Arts, an effort facilitated by Congressman Jerry Ford before he became President Gerald R. Ford. The abstract sculpture was controversial then and still is today, but it got people talking about art. Within a few years, Grand Rapids hosted a landmark exhibition of art, "Sculpture off the Pedestal," that attracted national notice.

Three years before the first ArtPrize, an exhibition of sculpture by Tom Otterness in 2006 dotted downtown Grand Rapids with 40 works of whimsical sculpture. It's no surprise Grand Rapids was ready for more art in public places.

3. Solid public backing – The City of Grand Rapids embraced ArtPrize from the start, signing off on installations within the Grand River and a 15-ton table and chair perched on top of the Blue Bridge over the river.

A dozen parks and public places will be ArtPrize 2014 venues, and the city is sponsoring ArtPrize 2014 to the tune of $35,000 to be the "Official Parking and Mobility Partner" of ArtPrize. It's a good investment for the taxpayers. The city, after all, estimates its parking revenue during ArtPrize at $200,000.

4. Widespread private support – Thousands of stores, banks, restaurants over the past five years have opened their doors to art and artists. Though few understood it fully at first, more than 1,200 mostly private enterprises climbed aboard the ArtPrize express.

Naturally, the Grand Rapids Art Museum is one place to see art. But so are Auto Fixit Body Shop, the Department of Corrections, and the underpass beneath U.S. 131 at Front Street. During ArtPrize, art is nearly everywhere downtown.

5. Enthusiastic volunteerism – ArtPrize 2013 needed 4,400 volunteer shifts to happen, and the community rose to the challenge. Grand Rapids has a long history of volunteerism fueling city-wide events. Festival of the Arts in Grand Rapids, a three-day celebration of arts and culture, debuted in 1970 as an all-volunteer organized and operated festival, and it continues today as the largest, all-volunteer-run arts festival in the nation.

Two years after the debut of ArtPrize, Gilda's Club Grand Rapids launched LaughFest, a 10-day festival of laughter, yet another event dependent on volunteers. If there's a limit to volunteerism in Grand Rapids, no one has found it yet.

6. Boundless community spirit – For five years, art critics, museum directors and journalists have come to ArtPrize and been flabbergasted by the sheer number of people walking the streets and looking at art or sitting in bars and restaurants arguing about art or following the local media filled with stories about people and art during ArtPrize.

Naturally, not all like the art they see during the three-week exhibition. But all of them leave envious of Grand Rapids' enthusiastic embrace of its one-of-a-kind ArtPrize.

Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk covers arts and entertainment for MLive and The Grand Rapids Press. Email him at jkaczmarczyk@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

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