Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Digital WPI
Interactive Qualifying Projects (All Years) Interactive Qualifying Projects
December 2016
Strengthening the Nantucket Cultural District:
Outreach and Data Collection
Christopher Mayforth
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Jacob A. Moon
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Jonathan R. Metzger
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Joseph E. Berger
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
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Mayforth, C., Moon, J. A., Metzger, J. R., & Berger, J. E. (2016). Strengthening the Nantucket Cultural District: Outreach and Data
Collection. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.wpi.edu/iqp-all/1717
Strengthening the Nantucket Cultural District:
Community Outreach and Data Collection
16 December 2016
Team Members:
Joseph Berger
Christopher Mayforth
Jonathan Metzger
Jacob Moon
Report Submitted to:
Janet Schulte
Melissa Murphy
Virna Gonzalez
Nantucket Cultural District
http://wp.wpi.edu/nantucket/projects/projects-2016/cultural-district/
Advisors:
Professors Scott Jiusto & Fred Looft
An Interactive Qualifying Project submitted to the faculty of
WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science
This report represents work of WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of a degree
requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its web site without editorial or peer review. For more
information about the projects program at WPI, see http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Projects
i
ABSTRACT
The Nantucket Cultural District (NCD) was officially designated in January 2016 with
the goal to centralize, expand, and promote the island’s culture. This project’s goals were to
assist the NCD by developing a community outreach plan and by creating a system to collect and
evaluate metrics to measure the impacts of the district. To realize the first goal, we developed a
website to centralize social and district media. To achieve our second goal, we utilized Google
Forms and Google Sheets to develop a data collection and analysis tool. Finally, we made
recommendations to the NCD to expand district membership, broaden web presence, increase
metric tracking, and adopt a new sustainable financial model.
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Our team would like to thank the many members of the Nantucket community for helping
us throughout the duration of the project. We would also like to thank our advisors, professors
Fred Looft and Scott Jiusto for pushing us to challenge ourselves. Their guidance has greatly
helped us develop our project and reach our goals.
We would like to thank our sponsor, the Nantucket Cultural District, including the
Steering Committee and Executive Steering Committee. Specifically, Janet Schulte, Melissa
Murphy, and Virna Gonzalez for working directly with us and taking time to meet with us on a
regular basis.
Finally, we would like to thank every member of the community that took time out of our
day to meet with us and offer their insight into our project and the Nantucket Cultural District.
We would also like to thank Harvey Young and the staff members of Young’s Bicycle Shop for
outfitting us with bicycles for our stay, and the Maria Mitchell Association, including Jascin
Finger, for providing us with housing during the duration of the project.
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ i
Acknowledgements ..........................................................................................................................ii
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ iii
List of Figures .................................................................................................................................. v
List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. vi
1: Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1
2: Background ................................................................................................................................. 3
2.1 What and Why of a Cultural District? ................................................................................... 3
2.2 Advantages of a Designated Cultural District ....................................................................... 4
2.3 Challenges of a Designated Cultural District ........................................................................ 6
2.4 The Nantucket Cultural District ............................................................................................ 8
2.5 Goals of the Nantucket Cultural District ............................................................................. 10
2.6 Supporting and Oversight Agencies .................................................................................... 12
2.7 What Data Do Cultural Districts Require? .......................................................................... 14
2.8 What Data is Collected by Other Cultural Districts? ........................................................... 18
2.9 What Data is Available to the Nantucket Cultural District? ................................................ 21
3: Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 22
3.1 Mission Statement ............................................................................................................... 22
3.2 Objective 1: Determining the most appropriate metrics for calculating the economic impact
of the NCD. ............................................................................................................................................ 22
3.3 Objective 2: Determining a means to efficiently collect selected metric data ..................... 23
3.4 Objective 3: Creating a system for analyzing and archiving the collected data. ................. 24
4: Findings .................................................................................................................................... 25
4.1 Background Research Findings ........................................................................................... 25
4.2 Interview Findings ............................................................................................................... 26
5: Results ....................................................................................................................................... 29
5.1 Data Collection and Analysis Tool ...................................................................................... 29
5.2 Website ................................................................................................................................ 33
6: Recommendations ..................................................................................................................... 36
7: Conclusion & Future Work....................................................................................................... 40
7.1 Reflection ............................................................................................................................ 40
References ..................................................................................................................................... 41
APPENDIX A: District Member Information .............................................................................. 45
APPENDIX B: List of Metrics ..................................................................................................... 47
APPENDIX C: Tourist Brochure.................................................................................................. 49
APPENDIX D: Calendar of 2016 Annual Events ........................................................................ 51
iv
APPENDIX E: Survey Questions; Tourists / Residents, & .......................................................... 52
APPENDIX F: Cultural District Maps ......................................................................................... 53
APPENDIX G: Verbal Informed Consent .................................................................................... 58
APPENDIX H: Website ................................................................................................................ 59
APPENDIX I: Data Collection Tool............................................................................................. 68
v
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Outline of Background Chapter...................................................................................... 2
Figure 2: Current Map of the Nantucket Cultural District.. .......................................................... 9
Figure 3: General Composition of the NCD Organized by Sector ............................................... 10
Figure 4: Comparing the Money Received or Granted by the MCC ............................................ 14
Figure 5: Required Metrics for Cultural Districts, by State ......................................................... 15
Figure 6: Flowchart of Our Methods for how we Accomplished our Goal.................................. 22
Figure 7: How Data is Collected and Input into the Google Spreadsheet Tool........................... 30
Figure 8: Graph Displaying Trends in Attendance at Cultural Events. ....................................... 31
Figure 9: Graph Displaying Trends in Gross Sales Before and After Events .............................. 32
Figure 10: Portion of the Linkage Google Form used to Collect Data from Participants. ......... 33
vi
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Comparing Four Districts in Massachusetts .................................................................. 18
Table 2: Findings Discovered while Conducting our Background Research .............................. 26
Table 3: The Features of our Data Collection Tool & the Reasons Behind their Necessity. ....... 29
Table 4: Wanted features for our Website & Reasoning Behind their Necessity. ....................... 34
vii
Executive Summary
Introduction
The Nantucket Cultural District (NCD) was officially designated in January 2016. The
district was formed with the goal to centralize and expand the culture of the island and to
advertise to residents and tourists the different aspects of the island culture. However, since the
district is so new, many advancement strategies are still in the development stage. Central to
these advancement strategies are the development of “linkages”, or strategic marketing
partnerships between businesses and
cultural organizations within the
district. As such, certain metrics need
to be developed, collected, and
analyzed by the district in order to
show the economic and other impacts
of linkages as well as the overall
success of the district.
Figure 1: Map of the Nantucket
Cultural District
Background
A cultural district can be
defined as a walkable area comprised
of businesses and cultural
organizations. The development of
cultural districts is often considered
when vacant and unused infrastructure
leads to low property values, crime, and a lack of a sense of community. Such areas can be
repurposed by local government as “fertile grounds for redevelopment” (Cultural Districts,
2012), which can then be expanded upon by the community to include business development
zones, artist areas, and cultural districts, among many other redevelopment spaces.
Cultural districts can either form naturally, or a municipality may choose to pursue a
specific district type in order to adapt to a city’s needs and goals. Cities that seek the formation
of cultural districts understand that community, diversity, and heritage are essential tools for the
holistic and long-term development of an area. (Duxbury, et. al. 2016).
Cultural districts have proven to increase out of town tourism, foot traffic, time, and
money spent in a particular area. For example, a 2013 analysis of 99 different cultural districts
throughout the United States showed that in general, there are notable positive effects of district
viii
formation on property values, employment levels, and income levels both within the districts, as
well as areas within close proximity to the district (Noonan 2013).
Cultural districts can also have a major role in organizing both small and large-scale
events that involve collaborations between stakeholders in the district. Annual events such as
food, art, and film festivals, concert series, and holiday celebrations are all proven to be much
more effective at being economically successful when cultural organizations work together, as
opposed to operating independently (Thornton, 2012)
While cultural districts are known to have a wide range of advantages, there are
additional notable considerations. In particular, when cultural districts are designed to be used as
a public policy instrument for local economies or for urban revitalization reasons, there can be
negative socioeconomic consequences (Thornton, 2012). These consequences can include
gentrification, the “Disneyfication” of an area, and the unfortunate reality that some efforts will
not achieve sustained success.
Methodology
Our goal was to assist the Nantucket Cultural District by developing a community
outreach plan and creating a system to collect and evaluate metrics to measure the
impacts of the district.
Our sponsors suggested we start by communicating with specific stakeholders involved
in the cultural district through interviews, focus groups, and surveys. Our first step then was to
collect qualitative data from cultural organizations, businesses, and residents by interviewing key
stakeholders. The goal of these interviews was to determine key stakeholder knowledge of the
cultural district as well as their willingness to cooperate with the NCD.
Our second step was to create an initial list of possible metrics based on our study of
other cultural districts. We then created a set of criteria to determine if the proposed metrics
would be applicable to the NCD and based our methods for selecting quantitative metrics on the
following criteria:
Non-disclosure of sensitive business data
Data already collected or easily collected by member organizations
Metric representative of economic impacts
Realistic for the NCD to collect from member organization
Results
Interview Findings
Listed below are the most important findings from our interviews. A complete list of
findings can be found in our report.
Many community members do not know about the cultural district or its purpose.
ix
Community members use social media for obtaining and relaying information about
events that occur on the island and in the district.
Businesses generally only track inventory and sales data, while nonprofit organizations
track attendance data.
Businesses were not likely to share their total gross sales, but they would likely share
percentage changes in gross sales if they were asked and the data was kept anonymous.
Website and Social Media Plan
One of the Nantucket Cultural District’s primary goals was to increase awareness of the
cultural district. We determined that since the Steering Committee had already developed
physical media such as maps and brochures, the next logical step was to develop an increased
internet presence. At the start of the project, the district’s web presence was limited to a single
page on the Town of Nantucket Department of Culture and Tourism website. We proposed to the
NCD Executive Steering Committee that we expand the current internet presence into a fully-
featured, independent website (URL: www.nantucketculturaldistrict.org).
The website went through multiple drafts over the course of its development. This
included the use of a focus group with the Steering Committee members providing feedback and
discussion, which resulted in a variety of feature changes. While developing the website, we
determined that the website should have a dual-role as an educational tool for visitors as well as
a platform for businesses and cultural organizations to communicate and collaborate with one
another, as well as access the data submittal tool that our team developed.
Creating a Data Collection and Analysis Tool
In order to develop our data collection and analysis tool we created a list of criteria of the
necessary features that can be found in our full report. A list of our most important criteria are
included below:
An easy-use tool that required minimal training
Able to collect and consolidate confidential data from many different sources
Enable easy analysis of data, including economic changes in correlation with cultural
district events
Track linkages and collaborations between organizations
Based on these criteria, we chose to use Google Forms and Google Sheets for a data
collection tool. Google Forms is a software program that allows the user to create a questionnaire
that can be sent to multiple people and allows the answers to be automatically archived in
Google Sheets. Google Sheets is a software application similar to Microsoft Excel that allows the
user to archive and analyze information as well as create graphical representations of data. The
data collection process is displayed in Figure 2. The process starts at the website, where cultural
organizations and businesses can access the data collection forms. Using the Google Form
interface, the data is submitted and automatically uploaded to Google Sheets where it is archived
and analyzed.
x
For businesses, the Google Form is structured to collect percentage change in gross sales
from three days, each one exactly a week apart. For example, each participating business would
be asked for their percentage change sales data from the Thursday prior to a selected event, the
day of the event, and the Thursday after the event. Due to the potential ambiguity of the data we
are trying to collect from businesses, we created a Percentage Change Calculator. This is a
simple Excel formula sheet which takes in the date of the event, gross sales for three days, and
returns a consistent percentage change. This ensures all data submitted using the data collection
forms accurately reflects the data we are trying to collect.
For the cultural organization members of the district, the NCD Steering Committee has
requested that they submit data to the NCD on attendance numbers so that the NCD could, in
turn, aggregate the attendance data and submit it to the Massachusetts Cultural Council as part of
their state-required annual report. Prior to our arrival, the cultural organizations did not have a
uniform way to submit attendance data. To address this issue, we developed another Google
Form for that purpose. The cultural
organizations are to select two events to
report attendance data, one during the on-
season and one during the off-season for
data collection, so we incorporated this
requirement into the form.
Finally, in addition to the
Business Event Data and the Cultural
Attendance Data, we also set up a Google
Form to collect information regarding
linkages (collaborations) between
businesses and cultural organizations.
This form collects information such as
the name of the linkage, the date it
occurred, general reception, the weather,
and their change in gross sales before and
after the event.
Recommendations
Our project resulted in six recommendations we identified as important that the NCD
address. They are sorted by importance, starting with what we believe is the most important and
immediate recommendation.
Figure 2: This figure shows how the data collection and
archiving process takes place.
xi
1. The NCD should improve public knowledge and support of the NCD by inviting
new members of the residential, business, and seasonal communities to join the
district.
Working with the NCD Executive Steering Committee, we assisted in the development of a short
guide on how the NCD should approach new potential members of the district, as well as what
specifically should qualify a new business or organization to be considered a member for the
district. If more businesses and organizations participate in the data collection process, the data
that is collected to assess the impact of the cultural district events will be more comprehensive
and useful.
2. The NCD should collect data from for-profit businesses using our data collection
system integrated into the new website.
In order to demonstrate the economic impacts of events in the district the NCD should collect
non-sensitive business sales data. Data collection should begin as soon as possible, as it gives
more time for businesses and organizations to find time to compile and submit their data. This
process should be facilitated between the owners of the member organizations and the Steering
Committee members. By fulfilling this recommendation, the NCD will be able to develop a more
comprehensive annual report for the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
3. The NCD should designate someone specifically to manage and update the
cultural district website as needed to keep it current and useful.
Our third recommendation is that the Nantucket Cultural District designate someone specifically
to update the website as needed to keep it current and useful. This should be completed as soon
as possible so that the website is ready-to-use before the spring shoulder season begins.
4. The NCD should expand their current social media presence to include more
platforms as well as post more frequently to increase outreach and public
knowledge of the district and cultural events.
The most important social media for the NCD to utilize is Facebook. We recommend the NCD
additionally create profiles on Instagram and Twitter, but refrain from using YouTube, Reddit,
Pinterest, or other social media sites as they are not suitable for the NCDs purposes. The use of
social media will increase the knowledge and interest in the district as well as develop a platform
for advertising. This should be completed as soon as possible so that the district and district
events receive a maximum amount of exposure before the shoulder season begins in the spring.
5. The NCD Steering Committee should adopt a sustainable financial model.
The NCD currently utilizes a financial model based on seeking grants from outside organizations
such as ReMain Nantucket and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Grants are not always a
xii
sustainable financial model, so the Steering Committee should look into additional funding
models to sustain the district in the long run.
6. The NCD should begin to track additional metrics pertinent to the district and
grant applications.
To assist the NCD in seeking additional financial support using additional cultural district
metrics not necessarily required by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, we have compiled a list
of potential metrics from a variety of sources (other districts, grant-giving organization, etc.) to
give the NCD a foundation of metrics they should look into tracking in the future.
Bibliography
Duxbury, N., Hosagrahar, J., Pascual Jyoth., (2016). Why must culture be at the heart of
sustainable urban development? UCLG.
Thornton, S. (2012). Cultural districts and the potential for urban development. Advocate's
Forum, (2012), 41-51. Retrieved September 08, 2016, from
http://ssa.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/AdvocatesForum_2012_web_1.pdf
Noonan, D. S. (2013). How US cultural districts reshape neighbourhoods. Cultural Trends, 22(3-
4), 203-212. Retrieved September 11, 2016, from
https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/Research-Art-Works-GeorgiaTech.pdf
1
1: INTRODUCTION
Nantucket is a small island off the coast of Massachusetts, only about 14 miles long.
Although small, it has a rich history. Originally occupied by the Wampanoag Native Americans,
the island was colonized by English settlers in the 17th century. At the beginning of the 18th
century, the potential of sperm whale oil was accidentally discovered. By 1715, this discovery
had stimulated the Nantucket deep-sea whaling industry (History, 2016). Over time, the island
developed a powerful whaling economy, which allowed the island to flourish for nearly 100
years. By the mid-18th century, Nantucket would become the whaling capital of the world
(History, 2016). By the 1860’s, diminishing whale populations coupled with the onset of the
Civil War and the discovery of petroleum in the hills of Pennsylvania signaled the decline of the
whaling industry and in turn, the economy of Nantucket (Philbrick, 2015).
The economy would eventually re-flourish, but under the influence of a different
stimulus; tourism. This time, tourism would provide the new foundation for Nantucket's
economy. Tourists from around the world are now drawn to the island for the abundant beaches,
exclusive real estate, and rich cultural history. With a population that swells from 10,000 to
60,000 people in the summer season, Nantucket has developed into one of the most popular
vacation and cultural destinations in the country (History, 2016).
Cultural Districts
All of the arts, customs, history, and beliefs that encourage the human mind and its
abilities are a part of a community's culture. One way to consolidate a community culture and to
ensure its sustainability and success, is to form a cultural district. These districts have defined
geographical borders and their roles in a given community are adaptable to the specific needs of
the area. Due to the inherent inconsistency between districts, the way to evaluate each district
must also be different.
Massachusetts encourages the growth of culture around the state through the
Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC). The MCC is the legislative body that designates and
supports Massachusetts cultural districts at the state level. The MCC requires an annual report
from the district to be submitted every fiscal year. The goal of the report is to show how the
district affects the local economy. With over 30 different cultural districts designated since 2011,
the MCC is constantly designating new districts.
The Nantucket Cultural District (NCD) was officially designated in January 2016. The
district was formed with the goal to centralize and expand the culture of the island, as well as to
advertise the different aspects of the culture on the island to residents and tourists. However,
since the district is so new, many ongoing strategies are still in the development stage. The
district hopes to foster business cooperation and create collaborations called “linkages” between
the many entities within the district. The district also needs measures of success to show that
2
their current strategies are working as intended. As such, certain metrics need to be developed,
collected, and analyzed by the district in order to show the impacts of events, linkages, and the
overall success of the district.
Project Statement
Our goal was to assist the Nantucket Cultural District create a system to collect and
evaluate metrics that measure the economic and cultural impact of the district. The selected
metrics would then be used to form an annual report for the Massachusetts Cultural Council. In
addition, we made recommendations to the NCD regarding their internet and social media
presence in order to increase awareness and to educate the public of their existence and purpose.
Project Summary
Starting in chapter 2, we will review the background of cultural districts and the NCD in
order to inform and prepare the reader for our results. In the following section, we will
specifically cover what a cultural district is, specific advantages and challenges of a designated
cultural district, what the Nantucket Cultural District is, as well as different methods other
cultural districts are using to collect, analyze, and report their data. For a more detailed outline of
the background section, refer to Figure 1 below.
Figure 1: Outline of background chapter showing the general flow of topics discussed
In chapter 3 we will discuss how we determined which metrics are most appropriate to
measure, how we intend to evaluate different collection methods for the selected metrics, and
how we will evaluate presentation forms to represent the data that is collected. Finally, in chapter
4, we will discuss how we built a system for the NCD to use to collect and analyze selected
metrics from the district.
3
2: BACKGROUND
In this section, we will describe background material that is pertinent to understanding
cultural districts. We will first discuss what a cultural district is and examine the advantages and
challenges that are involved with creating and sustaining a cultural district. We will then look at
how these districts are funded, supported, and organized, especially in Massachusetts. Then we
will look into the types of information and data that the cultural districts must or can collect in
order to examine the correlation between them and the economic impact they have on the
surrounding community. In each section, we will end by narrowing our focus onto our sponsor,
the Nantucket Cultural District, and explain how the background material and ideas presented
affect the NCD specifically.
2.1 What and Why of a Cultural District?
A cultural district is an area of a city or town consisting of a group of cultural
organizations and supporting businesses. The purpose of a cultural district is to boost the local
economy, connect cultural organizations in a community, attract tourists, and foster a sense of
cultural community among the stakeholders (Thornton, 2012). Cultural districts help encourage
communications between its stakeholders, which enables those organizations to better
collaborate and work towards common goals, rather than work in competition with each other.
For example, a cultural district can help facilitate ticket packages or coupon deals between
restaurants and theaters so that they can both benefit from the increased influx of customers.
Restaurants attract customers to theaters and vice-versa, leading to a “synergetic surplus”
between the two (Thornton, 2012). The collaboration also expands upon the sense of community
and culture between institutions, customers, and residents, as well as creating meaningful and
beneficial relationships between business owners.
The economic benefits of a cultural district are often the primary reason behind their
formation. However, cultural districts also have a way of both preserving and revitalizing older
communities that can be described as “cultural deserts”. These cultural deserts can be places
where industry has diminished and has left empty buildings in an economically depressed
community. Detroit, Michigan is an unfortunate example of a cultural desert. Once a powerful
automobile manufacturing hub, the closure of many car factories and the housing mortgage crisis
left the local economy devastated, and the culture of the city has suffered as a direct result (Lin,
2014). Cultural districts are often considered when vacant and unused infrastructure leads to low
property values, crime, and a lack of a sense of community. Areas like this can be repurposed by
local government as “fertile grounds for redevelopment” (Thornton, 2012), which can then be
expanded upon by the community.
4
There are four central types of cultural district;
● industrial
● institutional
● museum
● metropolitan
Industrial cultural districts are utilized to create a production center of culture by
attracting both artists and businesses. Institutional cultural districts rely on a single establishment
to centralize the cultural production in an area. Museum cultural districts consist of a set of
closely related museums or historical galleries. The most common type of district, the
metropolitan cultural district, consists of a mixed group of interconnected cultural institutions
(Thornton, 2012).
Cultural districts can either form naturally, or a municipality may choose to pursue a
specific district type in order to adapt to a city’s needs and goals. Cities that seek the formation
of cultural districts understand that community, diversity, and heritage are essential tools for the
holistic and long-term development of an area. (Duxbury, et. al. 2016).
2.2 Advantages of a Designated Cultural District
Cultural district designations are commonly sought after for a multitude of different
reasons. These can range anywhere from economic gains, to expanding an area’s existing
culture, to fostering commercial and residential unity and revitalization within a community. In
addition, it is understood that cities with a strong culture and sense of community are more
resilient and have a better chance of thriving in the long term (How Your Community Can
Thrive, 2006) (Thornton, 2012). All of these reasons are desirable goals for a community to
achieve, and a cultural district is often a worthwhile investment tool for a city (Noonan 2013). In
this section, cultural district advantages will be discussed in a broad sense, then narrowed down
to how these issues that directly impact the Nantucket Cultural District.
2.2.1 Economic Advantages
From an economic perspective, cultural districts offer opportunities to further develop
local economic growth. The most important advantage to having cultural districts is simply the
number of tourists that can be drawn into a specific area. Cultural districts have proven to
increase out of town tourism, while increasing the amount of foot traffic, time, and money spent
in a particular area. For example, a 2013 analysis of 99 different cultural districts throughout the
United States showed that in general, there are notable positive effects of district formation on
property values, employment levels, and income levels both within the districts, as well as areas
within close proximity to the district (Noonan 2013).
A second economic advantage to a cultural district designation are the types of people
that cultural districts attract. A vibrant arts and culture sector has been proven to provide an
5
enticing draw for young workers, especially those in high-skilled, high-paying technology jobs to
move to a specific area. (Lutz, 2012) Talented artists, especially those related to design,
performance, and communication, can greatly enhance the value of local products and services,
as well as increase their dissemination throughout an area. Together, the technology sector along
with the skilled artists (collectively dubbed “the Creative Class”), have been shown in many
cases to contribute to an increase the economic value of an area, which is why having a creative
district can be critically important to a city. (Dwyer, 2011)
A third major economic advantage cultural districts present are the opportunities to
improve upon the harmony between the city, the community, and commercial businesses.
Cultural districts play a major role in organizing both small and large-scale events that involve
collaborations between stakeholders in the district. Annual events such as food, art, or film
festivals, concert series, and holiday celebrations are all proven to be much more effective at
being economically successful when cultural organizations work together, as opposed to
operating independently (Thornton, 2012). An example of this can be found in Pasadena,
California’s Levitt Pavilion. The Old Pasadena Cultural District worked with the Levitt
Foundation, a group that works to financially enable local band shells to put on free concerts.
The concert series ended up being remarkably successful, and is now credited with helping
revitalize the downtown area into a popular tourist destination, all as a direct result of
community, business, and city collaboration (Watson 2013).
2.2.2 Cultural Expansion, Quality of Life Advantages
By centralizing creative assets through clearly locating, labeling, and drawing increased
attention to a community’s cultural assets, designating an area as a cultural district is a powerful
way to foster additional value, both social and economic, to an area (Dwyer, 2011). One result of
this is that cultural districts can lead to a better quality of life for those that currently work and
live in the district. Being able to advertise a particular part of a city as creative and culture-rich
creates a desirable reason for people to go there. Having this advantage helps attract new
residents, allows current businesses to try new ideas, as well as encourages the development of
new businesses within the district. With these developments, the culture of an area can
continually evolve into something unique, which is a major key to attracting tourists. (Roos-
Brown, 2013)
2.2.3 Community Involvement Advantages
Cultural districts are also a powerful tool to help foster resident involvement in the
development of a community. One example of this can be found in Tucson, Arizona’s Garden
District, a cultural district that covers one square mile in midtown Tucson (see APPENDIX F).
We interviewed Ida Plotkin, the grandmother of one of the members of Team NCD, who also
happens to be the president of a neighborhood association within the Garden District. Ms.
6
Plotkin stated that the district’s goal is “to have more participation in the community, which is
difficult because many people are refugees and many do not speak English” (Plotkin, 2016,
September, Personal Communication).
She provided examples on what the association of the district did to provide opportunities
for people to be involved. They accomplished this through a strong focus on internal
communication for those within the district. The district members set up three kiosks and
multiple newsletters to share information to both residents and tourists about their community.
They proved to be a success, with nearly 50% of the community signed up for district
newsletters. Through this district-wide newsletter, they were able to easily organize community
events such as bird watching, free garden tours, and parties in community pavilions, all of which
helps foster a noticeable sense of community within the district (Plotkin, 2016, September,
Personal Communication).
Ms. Plotkin stated how they measure success of their Garden District. They measure
community usage of the library for a number of programs such as homework help programs,
children’s story time, teen lounge usage, English literacy class attendance, and community
meeting involvement. The district also measures the usage of their Botanical Gardens, taking
data on landscaping and conservation efforts, as well as natural history and art exhibit
attendance. Participation in community affairs is collected through measuring involvement in
walking clubs, neighborhood watch groups, percentage of newsletter users, volunteer musicians’
performances, and food trucks sales. Her group additionally meets monthly with the Tucson
Police Department to get updates on levels of crime and other issues the community is facing.
In conclusion, the Garden District’s community involvement programs have proven to be
a success for the district. This district involved more people in the community and brought pride
to those who live and operate within the district’s signage. Increased community involvement
had a powerful effect on making the district both safer and more desirable to visit (Plotkin, 2016,
September, Personal Communication). In relation to the Nantucket Cultural District, while there
are currently community efforts to maintain high levels of volunteerism and community
development, none of them currently are organized under the oversight of the NCD committee.
However, as the district is further developed, this is something that it hopes to change over time
(Schulte, & Gonzales, 2016, September, Personal Communication).
2.3 Challenges of a Designated Cultural District
While cultural districts are known to have a wide range of advantages, there are
additional considerations that must be taken into account. In particular, when cultural districts
are designed to be used as a public policy instrument for local economies or for urban
revitalization reasons, there can be negative socioeconomic consequences (Thornton, 2012).
Additionally, the potential challenges a cultural district may face range anywhere from
7
gentrification, to the “Disneyfication” of an area, to the unfortunate reality that there is no
guarantee of their sustained success.
2.3.1 Gentrification
Gentrification is defined as “the arrival of wealthier people in an existing urban district, a
related increase in rents and property values, and changes in the district’s character and culture”.
The term holds a negative connotation, as wealthy people moving into an area can displace the
less well-off members of the community as a direct result of rising property values, as well an
increased cost of necessary goods and services (Grant 2003). Since cultural districts are known
to bring an increased economic value to an area when wealthier, higher-educated people move
closer to them, gentrification is a possible outcome. This is especially true if a cultural district is
being used as a tool to reinvigorate the culture of a certain part of a city. Additionally, since
cultural districts are usually centered in the downtown parts of cities, the resulting benefits are
often only beneficial to those who live in the district. Outlying less well-off populations may be
unable to benefit from the increased economic value of an area, which also can contribute to the
risk of displacement from gentrification (Thornton 2012).
In the case of the Nantucket Cultural District, there is a unique issue that arises in regards
to gentrification. Since the property values of Nantucket are already extremely high, the concern
is not so much about pushing poorer members of the community out, but rather pushing middle-
class year-round residents out. One concern the Nantucket Cultural District faces is the
possibility that current property values will rise even higher. It could eventually result to higher
costs of living for the year-round residents of the island, which could impact their financial
ability to continue living on the island.
2.3.2 “Disneyfication”
Another major challenge to the sustainability of cultural districts is the eventual
“Disneyfication” of the district. In a 2012 issue of Advocate’s Forum, contributor Sean Thornton
defined the term “Disneyfication” as to how an area becomes “a whitewashed homogenization of
consumption, merchandising, and labor in an effort to provide a more tourist-friendly
atmosphere, generally at the expense of the local area’s cultural and infrastructural authenticity”
(Thornton, 2012). The term is derived from Main Street, USA, a well-known Disneyland
attraction that portrays an idealized “safe” district where real-world problems are nonexistent and
corporate branding exists at every turn. In short, as cultural districts try to emulate this particular
strategy in order to attract more tourists, extensive commercialization runs the risk of ruining
aspects of what makes a particular culture unique and attractive.
An example of this can be found in the New Orleans French Quarter, a cultural district
with a deeply-rooted history in Southern politics. The district here is located directly next to the
Mississippi River in New Orleans. During a revitalization period in the 1990’s, there was
8
growing interest from local residents in having a riverfront park being a facet of the area. Instead,
commercialization interests took over the project and over twenty years later there currently sits
breweries, marketplaces, hotels, and casinos, all heavily stylized and marketed based on the deep
historical culture of the area, much to the apparent chagrin of longtime residents (Souther 2007).
Nantucket faces a similar challenge to the New Orleans French Quarter, they must keep local
residents happy and respect the proud history of the island, without turning the area into a
commercialized caricature of itself.
2.3.3 Lack of Sustainable Success
Another challenge that cultural districts must overcome is the fact that they are not
always a sustainable venture, and long term goals of economic development and growth have
proven difficult to achieve (Thornton, 2012). For example, a 1998 study profiled the Tucson Arts
District Partnership, an arts district in Arizona that was praised for its positive impact on local
jobs, sales, and tax revenues (Noonan 2013). Yet by 2001, the district was in decline, now
consisting of tattoo parlors, bars, and clubs while theaters and art galleries sat empty. The major
issue in this particular case was the city trying to use a cultural district to help revitalize a part of
a city, without actually putting in the necessary funding to sustain the district. The lack of
continued support and district mismanagement led to unreasonable rents for theater and gallery
owners, which could only be alleviated by renting out extra storefront space to other businesses,
which changed the culture of the area enough to lead to its decline. (Regan 2001). In order to be
a sustainable success, the Nantucket Cultural District must be continually funded, monitored, and
managed, while at the same time avoiding the same mistakes that led to the downfall of other
cultural districts (Noonan, 2013).
2.4 The Nantucket Cultural District
The Nantucket Cultural District, shown in Figure 2, was officially designated in January
of 2016, however the culture of the island of Nantucket has been informally present for many
years through the many cultural organizations throughout the island.
9
Figure 2: A current map of the Nantucket Cultural District. The blue outline shows the boundary of the district.
(Nantucket Cultural District Designated, 2016).
The Nantucket Cultural District Steering Committee, a group consisting of members of
town government, local businesses, museums, and other organizations, hopes to play a key
leadership role in promoting culture and arts on the island. Its current motto, “to enrich
community life for residents and visitors and to enhance Nantucket’s economic strength through
collaboration and promotion of our cultural organizations” outlines the direct goals of the NCD
(Nantucket Cultural District, 2016). At the time of its founding, the mission of the cultural
district was straightforward; the NCD Steering Committee wanted a mutually-beneficial
harmony between organizations and businesses, with a major focus on getting more people
downtown in the shoulder season. (Murphy, Schulte, & Gonzales, 2016, September 16. Personal
Communication).
10
Figure 3: General Composition of the NCD organized by sector (Rondeau, 2016):
At the time of its designation, as shown in Figure 3, the district contained 16 cultural and
social organizations, 18 hotels and inns, 29 art galleries, 35 restaurants, 23 food vendors, 129
shops, and 7 parks (Appendix A). Currently, the NCD encompasses most of the island's primary
historic downtown core, however the district is still a work-in-progress.
As of September 2016, the district had limited funding. When the district was created, the
district received a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council for $2,500, which was then
matched by the Town of Nantucket for a total of $5,000. This funding however had to go
towards Nantucket Arts Council administrative costs for the registration of the district, which
still means the district has little money to work with. This meant that necessary staples of a
cultural district such as maps, signage, social media presence, and internet presence were
currently in the development stage. As a result, the ability for district outreach was limited at the
time. While the NCD had applied for additional funding, those proposals were currently in the
process of being reviewed, and as such the district was still limited in the capacity of what it
could accomplish financially (Murphy, Schulte, & Gonzales, 2016, September, Personal
Communication).
2.5 Goals of the Nantucket Cultural District
The NCD is a new organization and therefore had a basic set of goals for its first year of
operation. Their goals include improving public knowledge of the district, creation and support
11
of collaborations/linkages between member organizations, and to collect data on the economic
impacts of the district. These goals were formed to align with the interests of the NCD as well as
the MCC.
2.5.1 Improve Public Knowledge of the District via Social Media
One goal is to educate the public that the NCD exists. Physical media, internet presence,
and social media are all important when developing community outreach for the district. For any
modern organization, the key developing community outreach is to develop an online presence
(Godwin, 2016). The NCD has already created physical media in the form of district brochures
(Appendix C). While the NCD currently has a Facebook page and a dedicated page on the
Nantucket Department of Culture and Tourism website, the information presented is currently
limited, which is something they would like to further expand (Murphy, Schulte, & Gonzales,
2016, September 16. Personal Communication).
According to a Google study, 97% of all consumers use the web to search for local
organizations. Therefore, having and utilizing an online presence as a component of your
marketing strategy is an important facet to the sustainability of any organization, independent of
the size or type (Godwin, 2016). In particular, an organization’s website is the most important
asset to their online presence. It works as a centralized location to sign up for events and
services, to find contact information, or collect donations in a safe, time-efficient manner
(Solutions Resource, 2016). Currently the NCD does not have an official website where visitors,
curious about the organization, can find any of this and learn in-depth about everything the
district has to offer.
Having a website serves as the basis for a wide variety of additional web presence
opportunities. In particular, having a website serves as a location to reach additional social
media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and many others. When developing a social media
plan, all social media presence must have a purpose, as well as realistic goals. The return on
investment of the social media plan depends entirely on the feasibility of these goals, the wide-
reaching ability to communicate, and informing the public specifically what they want to know
about the district (Social Media Manager, 2016).
“(Social Media) allows customers, potential customers and other interested parties to
engage easily via a channel that plays an important role in their everyday lives” (Godwin, 2016).
Facebook for example, is fully capable of planning and advertising events, sharing pictures and
videos, and directly interacting with visitors. Additionally, users can easily share Facebook
media and events with their friends, which helps greatly with additional outreach (Hassan, 2014).
Twitter and Instagram are both additional outreach platforms that have similar functions to
Facebook. Twitter is a quicker, more direct microblogging platform. Information posted on
Twitter is required to be under 140 characters, so information is presented in a short and simple
fashion (Ward, 2016). Instagram is entirely visual media-focused, which makes a great place for
12
posting event posters, activity updates, and showcasing other engaging media. Additionally,
Instagram is noted for having much higher audience engagement rate compared to other
platforms, which is increasingly more important when building a brand identity (Istvanova,
2014).
2.5.2 Create Collaboration & Linkages Between District Members
Another goal of the NCD is to encourage businesses and institutions to collaborate and
involve themselves in developing the district. The NCD hopes to do this by encouraging cultural
organizations and businesses to create what they are referring to as “linkages”. Linkages is the
term that the district is using to describe collaborations between businesses, cultural
organizations, and the Town of Nantucket. One example that the Steering Committee gave for
their idea of linkages is dinner at a restaurant, followed by a discount movie at a local theater.
Another example of a linkage would be an event at a cultural institution catered by a local
restaurant. Linkages like this currently exist in the district, however the Steering Committee
would like to track them, as well as improve on both the quantity and quality of them (Murphy,
Schulte, & Gonzales, 2016, September, Personal Communication).
The NCD hopes these linkages will become a way to help attract residents to the district
during the difficult “shoulder season”. The shoulder season is informally defined as April to May
and September to October. During this time period, the summer tourism economy is not in full
swing, but the downtown area still is viewed as having an economic potential. Through these
planned linkages, the NCD hopes to incentivize the residents that generally avoid going
downtown to go downtown during these times of the year. (Murphy, Schulte, & Gonzales, 2016,
September 16, Personal Communication).
2.5.3 Collect Data on the District
A third goal of the NCD is to encourage businesses and organizations to collect relevant
economic data to represent the development of the district. The NCD needs this data from
organizations to present to the Massachusetts Cultural Council, as well as for short and long-term
internal planning. Additionally, with the focus on linkages, the NCD wishes to track the success
of current events. This topic is outlined in much further detail in Sections 2.7, 2.8, and 2.9.
2.6 Supporting and Oversight Agencies
While cultural districts are primarily independent ventures put together by either a town
government, an existing cultural organization, or a collective of businesses, they still require
external oversight and funding to be successful. In Massachusetts, cultural districts are directly
designated, organized, and supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. (Mass Cultural
Council, 2016)
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2.6.1 Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC)
The Massachusetts Cultural District Initiative was launched in April 2011 after state
legislation was passed in 2010 to support and bolster culture throughout the state. This action led
directly to the formation of the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC). As of early 2016, there
are 32 official cultural districts in Massachusetts; all of which are designated, supervised, and
partially funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. The MCC states that “These cultural
districts help local arts, humanities, and science organizations improve the quality and range of
their public programs... they attract artists, cultural organizations, and entrepreneurs of all kinds -
enhancing property values and making communities more attractive” (Mass, 2016e).
In order to ensure the accountability of the districts, the MCC conducts yearly site visits,
and requires annual reports that demonstrate the continued development and impact of existing
cultural districts. The report may vary depending on the cultural district, however, it must show
how the district is affecting the local economy. Every five years, the districts are required to
renew their designation through the MCC, and cannot be renewed if their annual reports have not
been submitted. These reports are also essential tools for the districts to gain funding through
granting agencies and programs.
2.6.2 Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant Programs
There are different types of grants that can be given to projects by the Massachusetts
Cultural Council. A specific grant that can be given to a cultural district by the MCC is called the
Cultural Investment Portfolio Grant, which totaled $143,618 to Massachusetts Cultural Districts
for the fiscal year of 2016. In fiscal year 2017, the MCC plans to invest over $4.5 million in
nearly 400 nonprofit arts, humanities and science organizations through its Cultural Investment
Portfolio program. (Mass Cultural Council, 2016)
The Cultural Investment Portfolio invests in general programming needs of cultural
organizations. According to the MCC website, the Cultural Investment Portfolio (CIP) “provides
unrestricted general operating support grants and project support grants to nonprofit
organizations that provide public programs in the arts, sciences, and humanities in
Massachusetts.” The amounts of grants given by the CIP are determined through a formula based
methodology. Specifically, they are determined by an analysis of an organization’s expenditures,
combined with a review of the total funds allocated to the Cultural Investment Portfolio by the
MCC board based on “the agency’s annual legislative appropriation” (Mass Cultural Council,
2016). Examples of recipients of the CIP include museums, performing arts centers, music and
dance programs, theaters, art studios, and many more. Individual grants ranged anywhere from
$2,500 for small projects, up to $56,500 for museums (Mass Cultural Council, 2016).
The Massachusetts Cultural Council continually invests in the development of the state's
creative centers through a few additional funding programs (see Figure 4). The Local Cultural
Council Program (LCCP) seeks to promote the availability of cultural programs for
14
Massachusetts citizens. To do this, the program awards over $3 million dollars annually to nearly
5,000 cultural programs, in support of field trips, after school programs, as well as concerts and
performances. The Cultural Facilities Fund (CFF), a program that supports the “acquisition,
design, repair, renovation, expansion, and construction of nonprofit and municipal cultural
facilities” (Mass Cultural Council, 2016) will be allocating $9.3 million dollars in grants ranging
from $7,000 to $300,000 for the 2017 fiscal year. The Adams Arts Program (AAP), a program
that provides support for individual projects that work to create and grow culture and awareness
in a community. In the 2016-17 fiscal year, the AAP plans to distribute nearly $745,000 to
projects throughout Massachusetts ranging from grants to town governments to arts museums.
(Mass, 2016 a,b,c,d) The Cultural Investment Portfolio Gateway Program is another program the
MCC offers, it looks to provide preliminary support for new cultural ventures, so that they may
apply for Cultural Investment Portfolio once programs have been officially established and
proven to have cultural value (Mass Cultural Council, 2016).
Figure 4: This figure compares the money received or granted by the MCC.
2.7 What Data Do Cultural Districts Require?
Data collection is the process of obtaining and analyzing information on predetermined
variables in a way that enables one to test hypotheses and evaluate potential outcomes. (Data
Collection, 2016). Since one of the objectives of our project is to develop metrics to collect data
15
about the Nantucket Cultural District, we must examine different forms of data and determine
the most effective metrics for data collection.
While there are many opportunities and possibilities for collecting data in a cultural
district, the challenge is to determine what data can be collected in an efficient manner and how
that data can be used to support the development of grant proposals. Many of these grant
proposals focus on the particular goals of the various state cultural councils. For example, in
Colorado, cultural districts focus on utilizing the arts to create jobs and therefore, the data
collected is designed to enable the state to assess the job creation impact of each cultural district
(Figure 5). In Massachusetts, the state focuses on increasing attendance and therefore, measuring
economic impact through cultural involvement. Specifically, Massachusetts requires
commercial building occupancy rates, as well as attendance data to the cultural district (Figure
5).
Figure 5: Required Metrics for Cultural Districts, by State (Programs, 2014)
16
The limitation of using other districts as examples is the fact that there are few cultural
districts in Massachusetts that fit the same economic model as Nantucket or that have existed
long enough to have applicable experience. The list of metrics in Appendix B are ones that were
identified as being both important as well as feasible for the NCD to look into further. Some of
these metrics are easy for the district to compile, however other metrics such as local
partnerships (linkages), economic impacts of cultural events, attendance data, and community
knowledge of the district are more difficult. Since they are the more difficult ones to look into,
and the district does not have the budget to hire an outside organization to collect this data.
2.7.1 Qualitative Cultural District Data
Qualitative data focuses on data that is non-numeric and non-specific. With an isolation
to specificity, qualitative data collection enables observations to be tracked with ease, as they do
not require in-depth numeric data. Collecting qualitative data can be easier, however drawing
specific conclusions or showing relevant change without concrete number data becomes a
difficult task. While qualitative data collection harbors many methods, the majority “can be
classified in three broad categories: in-depth interview, observation methods, document review”
(Data Collection Methods, 2001). The key point to gather from this is the broadness of which the
categories are composed. This sharply contrasts with the specificity of quantitative data
collection.
Nantucket becomes a major tourist destination during the summer season, with tens of
thousands of people coming and going. Tracking metrics such as audience size and composition
is difficult since many city-wide events are free to the public and lack physical boundaries and
turnstile entrances (Stubbs, 2014). A common practice for qualitative tracking is “gauging
whether attendance is higher, lower than previous years or simply receiving word-of-mouth
positive feedback from visitors” and evaluating comments on social media have proven to be
effective methods (Stubbs, 2014). While this type of data collection does not allow us to
discretize cultural involvement, it does allow the MCC to create records for yearly comparisons.
Another form of effective qualitative data collection is to utilize personal anecdotes and study
them in aggregate. This is done through one-on-one interviews, surveys, and focus groups.
Collecting and working with the residents, business owners, cultural organizations, and tourists
to know what they view as valuable and worthwhile. While each person may have differing
opinions, when viewed in aggregate, their opinions can provide insight into the effectiveness of
any cultural event.
Tracking qualitative cultural impact can be a difficult task for a multitude of reasons. A
study by the National Cultural Districts Exchange found that every district is too unique to utilize
a generalized evaluation tool (Stubbs, 2014). This uniqueness is what prevents a common set of
qualitative metrics or a standardized/universal collection practice that all districts can use. For
17
this project, the uniqueness provides an interesting opportunity to quickly isolate similar districts
and generate effective solutions, which is elaborated on further in Section 2.8.
2.7.2 Quantitative Cultural District Data
Quantitative data focuses on the discrete, or the concrete information. This type of data
collection focuses on fitting descriptions of the world into a finite set of “predetermined
categories” (Data Collection Method, 2001). While many options exist for collecting this data
the most common strategies for quantitative data collection include: “experiments/clinical trials,
observing and recording well-defined events (e.g., counting the number of patients waiting in
emergency at specified times of the day), obtaining relevant data from management information
systems, administering surveys with closed-ended questions.” (Data Collection Method, 2001).
A key point to notice from all of these methods is the specificity at which they are administered,
quantitative data focuses on the specific and condenses the continuous spectrum that is cultural
data to the discrete and finite.
Since the Nantucket Cultural District falls under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts
Cultural Council, the nature of the relationship between a large statewide agency and a small
island community’s cultural district means finding proper quantitative metrics can be a
challenge. However, the MCC understands the limitations of most local entities and therefore
“requires that individual districts collect information on two specific indicators: visitation
numbers and [building] occupancy rates.” (Stubbs, 2014), which can be collected across all
districts. To fulfill the necessary requirements of the creation of the NCD, those two metrics
must be reported annually, as well as lodging and meals tax data. To capture visitation numbers
requires a measurement on the foot traffic of a region, or the quantities of business patrons to a
region on a specified date. While this can be isolated to specific dates, occupancy rates pose
another challenge because a rate imply that it is a dataset tracked over time. Therefore, it is
necessary to track changes in residency and patronage correlated against an index of cultural
events.
By only obtaining two data points the NCD will keep its status as a cultural district, but
grant giving organizations wish to receive more data than just what is required (Mass Cultural
Council, 2016). With a vast array of possible metrics and data points to track, determining how a
small municipal system should track this information is vital to the continued success of the
NCD. Therefore, our project must also look towards other metrics and determine the most
commonly used metrics by other districts. Therefore, our project is not isolated to the data
required by the MCC, instead the requirements serve as a base level suggestion for data
collection.
18
2.8 What Data is Collected by Other Cultural Districts?
In order to determine more specific metrics to collect, it becomes necessary to look to
other cultural districts in Massachusetts to see specifically what data they are collecting, how
they are collecting it, and how they are presenting it to the Massachusetts Cultural Council. In
order develop our data collection methodology, we looked into what three other Massachusetts
cultural districts were reporting, specifically, we looked at districts located in Barnstable,
Springfield, and Worcester, MA (Table 1).
Cultural
District Title P
opulation Seasonal Age
Local
Government
Control
Founding Body
Reports on
Business
Activity
Funding
Structure
Barnstable
Village Cultural
District
45,000-
125,000 Y
es 2
years N
o HyArts No M
embership,
Government
Springfield
Downtown
Cultural
District
154,000 No 3
years N
o
Springfield
Business
Investment
District
Yes Membership
Salisbury
Cultural
District
182,000 No <
1
year N
o W
orcester Art
Museum N
o Grant-Based
Nantucket
Cultural
District
11,000-
60,000 Y
es <
1
year Y
es N
antucket Arts
Council N
o Grant-Based
Table 1: Comparing the four Districts in Massachusetts discussed (Rondeau District Survey Sheet)
2.8.1 Barnstable Village Cultural District
The Barnstable Village Cultural District (BVA) (see Appendix F, Item 3) is a useful
example to look at for two primary reasons. The first reason is because the BVA is a relatively
older district compared to the NCD, having been designated in March 2014. Since it is older, it
has been around long enough to have submitted two annual reports to the MCC and developed a
metrics set of its own. A second reason it can be a useful source is due to its status as a seasonal
destination located on Cape Cod, it receives a summer tourist influx similar to that of Nantucket.
The BVA collects participation for their events in order to see community and visitor
involvement with the arts and culture of the town. Data was collected from a few willing
businesses located downtown about seasonal income and increased purchases during events and
festivals (Rondeau, 2016). An interview with BVA cultural district management yielded a few
specific questions asked by the MCC. Specifically, they were asked “What are popular tourist
activities, and how much do tourists spend in town? How many empty storefronts do you have?
Is there any empty town space that a cultural institution is moving into? What are the venues for
local artists?” (Rondeau, 2016). These metrics are important, as there are likely similar questions
that the MCC will be asking to see in the NCD annual report.
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2.8.2 Springfield Downtown Cultural District
The Springfield Central Cultural District (SCCD) located in Springfield, Massachusetts is
a large cultural district encompassing a third of a square mile in downtown Springfield (see
Appendix F, Item 4). Designated in January 2014, their mission statement is “to foster civic
engagement and arts education in the City of Springfield by creating and sustaining a vibrant
cultural environment that positions the City as the cultural capital of the region” (Springfield
Central Cultural District, 2016). The Springfield district hopes to increase synergy between
member organizations and an open communication through board meetings with updates and
notices. As a result, the district hopes to increase resources, outreach, and collaborations between
the cultural district organizations (Springfield Central Cultural District, 2016). Since the SCCD
must also submit an annual report to the MCC, the SCCD can be used as a case study to examine
how they report different metrics. In their 2016 annual report, the SCCD reported a few different,
non-essential metrics to the MCC, specifically they focused on social media, as well as member
and revenue statistics.
The 2016 SCCD annual report displayed that there was a 77% increase in new Facebook
and Twitter followers, a 60% increase in social media “likes”, 358 unique social media posts,
and 150x user engagement on all platforms versus 2015 statistics. Social media is important for a
cultural district to inform people about local events, so having an increase in involvement with
the district’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter pages, etc. can show an increase cultural district
involvement. (SCCD Annual Report, 2016).
The SCCD also listed their changes in funding and memberships versus the previous
year. They listed metrics discussing how grant revenue was “up 483% from previous year, with 4
times the amount budgeted for.” The report also listed a metric about there being an additional
28 new members within the last year. Additionally, the SCCD report listed community created
and supported initiatives the district helped put on, such as mural programs, art displays, and
progress on the cultural district’s website (SCCD Annual Report, 2016). Both of these metrics
are reasonable consider collecting within the scope of the Nantucket Cultural District, as they
have both an emerging social media presence, as well initial first year member and funding data
they can report (Murphy, Schulte, & Gonzales, 2016, September 16, Personal Communication).
2.8.3 Salisbury Cultural District (Worcester)
The Salisbury Cultural District, located in Worcester, MA and founded in summer 2015,
is another unique example to look at for cultural district metrics (see Appendix F, Item 5). This
cultural district is significant to our project as Worcester Polytechnic Institute was a founding
member of the district, and is geographically located within the district. Having this link to a
cultural district allowed us to use our university connections to reach out to a few members
involved in the framing of the district. Specifically, we reached out to Linda Looft, the Assistant
20
Vice President of Government & Community Relations and University Relations, as well as Erin
Williams, the Cultural Development Officer for the City of Worcester.
Through our interview with Mrs. Looft, we learned a few things about how WPI collects
attendance data at large events hosted at the school, as well as how different organizations in the
district benefit from each other. Specifically, they use a program called iModules that tracks
registration demographics for events hosted at the university, such as the TouchTomorrow
Festival or Robotics tournaments at the school. Additionally, she enlightened us as to how a few
other members of the Salisbury District were working together to bring more people into the
district. An example she gave was how the nearby Worcester Art Museum was offering free
admission days during major exhibit openings, which resulted in large crowds being drawn to
both the museum and the nearby organizations. The Worcester Art Museum additionally hosts a
farmer’s market in their parking lot, which has shown to both draw people to the museum and
help local farmers. These events, as well as those put on by WPI and other members of the
district, bring large amounts of foot traffic to the district, which greatly impacts the number of
people that go to local restaurants, as well as the surrounding parks and institutions. (Looft,
2016, October, personal communication).
Our interview with Ms. Erin Williams, Executive Director at Worcester Cultural
Coalition, gave us a larger insight to how the City of Worcester measures cultural impacts of
both the Salisbury Cultural District, as well as the citywide Worcester Cultural Coalition (WCC).
The WCC was described as “a macro-level cultural district” that included 78 organizations
throughout the entire city of Worcester. The Salisbury District is considered “a microcosm of the
Worcester Cultural Coalition” by comparison, so many of the Salisbury Cultural District’s
metrics and data collection strategies are taken directly from the WCC. The major strategies that
we discussed were online presence, attendance data collection techniques, and business data.
Addressing each of these, for social media they hired someone for six months in order to
setup and maintain their social media accounts initially. After that period, they transferred social
media control to WCC members since they had a basic framework to work with. They also
manage a weekly email newsletter (with nearly 30,000 subscribers) and a WPI-created website
that lists and advertises events in the greater Worcester area. For attendance data, they utilize a
specific few strategies. Member organizations submit their attendance data directly to the WCC,
however for open area events or festivals, they draw on a few different techniques. Specifically,
they work with Worcester Police to estimate people per square foot for open outdoor events, as
well as perform car counts and utilize orange snow fencing to create dedicated entrances for
events, so that guest throughput can be estimated better. This data was clarified to be estimated
for final counts, as opposed to completely accurate. Business attendance and profit data for is
also collected and utilized by the WCC. In order to do this, they work with a few businesses
throughout Worcester. When asked about how the WCC convinces businesses to allow the
Coalition to use their data, Ms. Williams maintained that in order for businesses to be willing to
21
submit their it must be completely anonymized first so that nothing proprietary about the
business’ operations are compromised. Through these three metrics, the WCC builds an accurate
estimation of success for ongoing Coalition activities (Williams, 2016, October 13, Personal
Communication).
2.9 What Data is Available to the Nantucket Cultural District?
For the Nantucket Cultural District to receive grants, there must be proof that the grant is
needed and that the grant will be utilized effectively. To meet both of those standards requires
insight into the types of data grant organizations are looking for. Determining common metrics
becomes an important goal for both our group and the Nantucket Cultural District. The type of
data we collect and the methods we use for collection revolve around the type of approach we
would like to take when creating a model for the Nantucket Cultural District. For modeling
Social Sciences, there are four main approaches; the representative, the heuristic, the power, and
the sociality. Each of these approaches has their own merits, but to gather insight into the NCD,
our group will construct a representative function and a sociality function. The representative
function is utilizing data collection and analysis to simplify and quantify cultural impact. The
sociality function is created by utilizing external methods for analysis and building off of the
work of other researchers to determine what is truly necessary. (Mohr, Rawlings, 2012)
Nantucket has many different data sources available to track the cultural district activity
and impact. Some will show clear connections and others may be more unclear, therefore,
utilizing a mix of quantitative and qualitative is a necessity. Not only is the data itself important,
but so is the tracking, analysis, and security of this data to ensure that it can continue to be
collected.
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3: METHODOLOGY
The purpose of this chapter is to present the general methods we used to achieve our project
goals. As depicted in Figure 6, the
process started with background
research, where we conducted research
on the methods of data collection by
other cultural districts. In the
assessment section, we discuss our
approach for determining which
metrics we decided to look into
collecting. In data collection, we
explain the process for evaluating
different proposed data collection
methods. In the data analysis section,
we detail our criteria for determining a
system to analyze the selected metrics.
3.1 Mission Statement
Our goal was to assist the Nantucket Cultural District by developing a community
outreach plan and creating a system to collect and evaluate metrics to measure the
impacts of the district. To achieve this goal, our team did the following:
● Determined the most appropriate metrics for understanding the economic impact of
the Nantucket Cultural District
● Determined the means to efficiently collect the data that represented the selected
metrics
● Created criteria for a system to analyze, present, and archive the collected data.
The methods to achieve each of these objectives are detailed in the following sections.
3.2 Objective 1: Determining the most appropriate metrics for calculating the economic
impact of the NCD.
The NCD Executive Steering Committee asked us to select a set of metrics to collect data
from the district in order to demonstrate the performance of NCD to the Massachusetts Cultural
Council. Ideally, the selected metrics would represent the impact of the Nantucket Cultural
District on tourism, resident life, and the local economy.
Figure 6: This flowchart represents our methods for how
we accomplished our goal.
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3.3 Objective 2: Determining a means to efficiently collect selected metric data
Qualitative Data
Our sponsors suggested we communicate with specific stakeholders involved in the
cultural district through interviews, focus groups, and surveys. These stakeholders included
cultural organization owners, business owners, and residents. Gathering qualitative data using
these strategies allowed the general public as well as the selected cultural district participants to
share their opinion on the progress of the NCD. The results of the qualitative data were used to
determine the best means to collect quantitative data.
The first method we proposed was to perform preliminary interviews with cultural
organizations, businesses, and residents. The goal of these interviews was to determine their
current knowledge of the cultural district as well gauge their willingness to cooperate with or
become a member of the NCD. We wished to learn what type of data they are already collecting,
how they are collecting it, how they are archiving it, and which types of data they were willing to
share with the NCD.
Working with our liaisons, we identified the key informants in the cultural district such as
the Steering Committee and Executive Steering Committee board members. We planned to use
the first interview to gauge how our interview plan was working and then adjusted our interview
guide to the resulting feedback. Using the questions listed in Appendix E, we tailored our
interview guide specifically to the stakeholder in question. Prior to any discussions with
stakeholders, we provided the interviewee with an IRB consent form and informed them that we
would record the interview audio for our records [Appendix G].
We additionally planned to collect qualitative data using focus groups. The target
demographic of these focus groups was intended to be members of the NCD Steering Committee
and Executive Steering Committee and was planned to include 1-2 facilitators, 1-2 secretaries,
and other invited guests. The objective of the focus group was help form a clear idea of how the
recommended data collection system and data analysis and presentation methods were
recognized by the Steering Committee members.
Quantitative Data
From our study of other cultural districts, we created an initial list of possible metrics
(Appendix B). We then created a set of criteria to determine if the proposed metrics would be
applicable to the NCD. We based our methods for selecting quantitative metrics on the following
criteria:
● Non-sensitive to business data
● Already collected or easily collected by member organizations
● Able to be representative of economic impacts
● Realistic for the NCD to collect from the member organizations
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The process which we choose to recommend was influenced by the results of our
qualitative data from our focus group and interviews.
3.4 Objective 3: Creating a system for analyzing and archiving the collected data.
The goal of this objective was to develop criteria for a system to help the Steering
Committee determine the impact of both cultural linkages, as well as cultural district events.
These criteria included:
● Having one easy-use tool that required minimal training
● Able to collect and consolidate data from many different sources
● Keep data and information confidential
● Easy analysis of data and be able to track economic changes in correlation with cultural
district events (Appendix C, D)
● Track linkages and collaborations between organizations
● Incentivize organizations/businesses to input their data
● Easily accessible for everyone.
● Easily scalable for use by small and large organizations
● Easily adaptable for future changes
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4: FINDINGS
In this section, we will present our findings. We start this section by presenting some
additional background information that is pertinent to understanding how we arrived at our
findings. This background material is then followed by our detailed findings.
Background
When we first arrived on the island, we had a long discussion with our liaisons about the
direction we should take for the beginning of the project. This conversation led us to focus on
tracking economic fluctuations within the district, collaborations between businesses and
nonprofits, as well as tracking attendance at smaller, non-festival events. Our liaisons also
provided clarification that they would not like us to track previously established, larger events
such as the Christmas Stroll or the Daffodil Festival.
Based on our initial discussion, we tentatively proposed that the NCD track changes in
attendance and changes in gross sales at local businesses at times surrounding small scale events
and any linkages (collaborations). In order to make sure our proposed ideas were viable for the
district, we set out to interview 10 members of the business community in order to determine the
best way to collect data on the selected metrics. In addition to these data discussions, we
developed and implemented a list of questions for interviewing (see Appendix E) that we thought
would be useful for future district planning outside the scope of the project.
4.1 Background Research Findings
During the course of our project, we conducted background research on the topic of
cultural districts worldwide. From this research, we discovered many findings that were pertinent
to our project and our sponsors. These findings and their significance are described in Table 3
below.
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Finding Significance
The MCC requires cultural
districts to file an annual report
to show CD economic impacts
The NCD must file a report to the MCC containing
information and data that shows economic impacts by the
end of the fiscal year.
The MCC requires cultural
districts to track attendance and
building occupancy rates
The Nantucket Cultural District must track cultural event
attendance and building vacancy rates for their first annual
report.
A guideline of metrics that
cultural districts should track
does not exist
The individual cultural districts may choose what metrics
they choose to track and report.
Funding and governance
structures of cultural districts
vary
The individual cultural districts can choose how they would
like to be funded, taking into account the composition of the
district, the governance structure, and the managing
organization.
Cultural districts have a wide
range of advantages and
challenges
With the development of a cultural district, there are many
considerations that must be taken into account in order to
ensure the success of the district.
Nantucket has a unique
economic and cultural
environment
The developed and wealthy nature of Nantucket creates a
unique situation that separates the NCD from most other
cultural districts.
Table 2: This table displays the different findings that we discovered while conducting our background research as well as the
significance of each to our project.
4.2 Interview Findings
The first step we took towards the data collection process was qualitative data collection
through interviewing key informants and stakeholders involved with both the cultural district and
the downtown area as a whole. We interviewed a wide variety of people, including shop owners,
restaurant owners, art gallery owners, cultural organization leaders, and NCD Steering
Committee members. We asked a wide variety of questions (Appendix E), inquiring both into
their status as a business owner or organizational representative, as well as a year-round resident
of Nantucket.
Through these interviews, we learned what issues the members and potential members of
the cultural district were facing. Listed below are the general findings from the results of our
interviews.
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● Many community members do not currently know about the cultural district or its
purpose.
● Many businesses and organizations use flyers, the local newspaper (The Inquirer and
Mirror), N-Magazine, word of mouth, and local radio for their advertising needs.
● Many people use social media for obtaining and relaying information about events that
occur on the island and in the district.
● There are too many newsletters from the various organizations and businesses on the
island. Many people just delete them.
● Businesses generally only track inventory and sales data, while nonprofit organizations
track attendance data.
● Many businesses change their target demographics during the off season (November-
March) and shoulder season (September-October, April-May) to make their products more
accessible to residents.
● Many businesses have collaborated in the past, but not often. On average once or twice per
year.
● Businesses were not likely to share their total gross sales, but they would likely share
percentage changes in gross sales if they were asked and the data was kept anonymous.
● Weather and parking are major issues that keeps residents from visiting the downtown.
Additionally, a few things learned in the interview process were determined critical to
organizing our project activities. For example, we found that the NCD Executive Steering
Committee requires its member organizations to report attendance data for one on-season event
and one off-season event to the Nantucket Arts Council (abbreviated NAC; the managing entity
for the NCD) for the first fiscal year of the NCD. As this was related to data metrics and
collection, we spoke with NAC leadership about their current data collection techniques. At the
time of the interview, the NAC’s strategy was to take attendance information from cultural
district members, but there was no required uniformity to how the data could be submitted,
which made the attendance information difficult to sort and analyze. This finding was
particularly critical to our own study since we used it as a basis for our recommendations
regarding the development of a data submission tool that could consolidate the attendance
information into one single place (described in-detail in chapter 5).
From the interviews, we additionally found that most residents of Nantucket get their
information about events from a local scheduling website Mahon About Town, as well as the
local newspaper, radio, and social media. However, we also found that the residents often made
comments that there was not a central location that included a consolidated calendar of culturally
significant events occurring downtown. These two findings were important because they
emphasized the need for a consolidated calendar of cultural events.
A final important finding from the interview process was that the public has limited
knowledge of the district, but nearly every member of the community uses some form of social
media that they check daily. After learning that the Nantucket Cultural District only has a limited
social media presence consisting of a monthly-updated Facebook page, we determined that a
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social media outreach plan that outlines what they should post, how often they should post, and
which platforms they should utilize would benefit the district and provide a platform to increase
social media presence.
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5: RESULTS
In this section, we will describe the deliverables that we gave to the NCD including our
data collection and analysis tool and our website. We will first describe the features that we,
along with the NCD Executive Steering Committee, decided were necessary of our data
collection tool. We then explain how our tool is set up and what programs we used to incorporate
the necessary features. We then explain how our tool works and what it will do for the NCD. We
will also discuss our website, how we determined what features we aimed to include in it, and
then go on to describe which features we were able to include and how the features work. For the
deliverables; the data collection and analysis tool and the website, we developed a tutorial and
provided written reference documentation to the NCD. This will allow the NCD Steering
Committee and/or administrator to make changes to either the data collection and analysis tool or
the website when needed.
5.1 Data Collection and Analysis Tool
In order to select an appropriate platform for the data collection tool, we developed a list
of attributes that the platform had to be able to manage and support. Subsequently, we selected a
data collection and analysis platform, configured it to support the types of analysis we required,
and created a method for the data to be easily entered into the selected platform. To start, below
is the list of features we identified that the platform needed to support:
Feature Reason
Submitted data can be kept
anonymous
Members of the business community agreed to submit data only if it
was kept anonymous.
Be able to automatically create
visualized representations of the
data (graphs, charts, etc.)
Visualized representations are needed for simple and powerful data
analysis.
Easily distributable to members
District leadership will not want to waste their time on a system that is
difficult, and neither will members that are expected to fill out the tool.
Cost-effective
The district does not have the budget for expensive software, they
require something that is either free or affordable.
Able to adapt to changes in
metrics, easy to use
The system should be easy to change and be adapted to future district
needs.
Table 3: This table lists the features of our data collection tool and the reason they were deemed necessary by the NCD Executive
Steering Committee.
Using these features as a guide, we identified that with respect to features and the cost of
the platform, our best choice to develop this system was to utilize the free Google collaborative
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software suite. Specifically, we decided on utilizing Google Forms for the collection interface
and Google Spreadsheets for data organization and analysis. Google Forms was specifically
chosen for its ease of use, the general familiarity many people have using Google software, as
well as the ability for submitted data to be automatically entered into a Google Spreadsheet.
Below in Figure 7, we show how the different Google Forms enter data into a single Google
Spreadsheet. In Google Spreadsheets, submitted data from the Google Form can be automatically
sorted into categories based on a few different qualifiers, such as if the data was the result of a
linkage or a cultural event. Further, the data is then easily analyzed using Google Spreadsheet
capabilities to sort data, develop graphs, and create visualizations of the data trends.
Cultural Organization Data Collection
The Steering Committee of the
NCD has asked the cultural
organization members of the district to
submit data on attendance of two
significant cultural events, one that
occurs in the on-season and one that
occurs in the off-season. This data will
then be used by the NCD in their
annual report to the Massachusetts
Cultural Council. Prior to our arrival,
the district members did not have a
uniform way to submit their attendance
data. This made analysis and
preparation for the MCC annual report
a time-consuming effort. To solve this,
we built another Google Form for cultural organization members to uniformly submit their data.
In this form, we ask the cultural organizations to submit information such as name of the
organization, date of the event, name of the event, weather, and number of people in attendance.
The information we collect for cultural organizations will then be uploaded directly to a
Google Sheet. This sheet is setup to create graphical representations of the collected data than
can then be used for the annual report. One way we show this data is by using a line graph to
show attendance trends over time by event (Figure 8). In Figure 8, each line represents a
different event, the x-axis displays the year and the y-axis represents the number of people that
attended each event. The NCD will be able to use the raw data in conjunction with the tool to
create many different types of graphs.
Figure 7: This figure shows how the data collection and
archiving process takes place.
Figure 7: This figure shows how the data collection and
archiving process takes place.
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Figure 8: This graph displays trends in attendance at cultural events as reported by the cultural organizations. A
positive slope shows that attendance has increased from the previous year. A negative slope shows that the attendance decreased
when compared to the previous year. The data shown is for presentation purposes only and is not real data.
Business Data Collection
For businesses, the Google Form is setup to collect percentage change in gross sales from
three days, each one exactly a week apart with the middle day being the day of an event. For
example, the participating businesses would be asked for their percentage change sales data from
the Thursday prior to the event, the Thursday of the event, and the Thursday after the event. The
percentage change we are trying to obtain is a whole number, where zero signifies no change in
sales, a positive percentage is a positive increase, and a negative percentage indicates a decrease.
From this specific set of data, we can estimate the economic impact that cultural events
had on the local economy based on the aggregate change in business in the district, which would
be calculated automatically as a function of the Google Sheet. As displayed in Figure 9, data will
automatically be input into graphical representations showing percent change in gross sales
during an event. Ideally, if many members of the district submit data from a wide variety of
organization types, the data will show an overall trend of how cultural events affected
businesses. If a negative trend is noticed, then it gives the NCD Steering Committee insight into
how different events affect business.
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Figure 9: This graph displays trends in gross sales before and after events. The data represented currently is for presentation
purposes only and is not actual data. A value of zero percent indicates no change from the previous week. The last metric
indicates the percentage change in business between the week before the event and the week afterwards, this is a calculated value
that shows the lasting impact of these events.
Linkage Data Collection
In addition to the Business Event Data and the Cultural Attendance Data, we also set up a
Google Form to collect information regarding collaborations between businesses and cultural
organizations, also known as linkages. Using the Form, we collect information such as the name
of the linkage, the date it occurred, how they feel the event affected them, the weather, and their
change in gross sales before and after the event. In Figure 10, we show a screenshot of the
Linkage Google Form that we use to collect data from businesses and cultural organizations. For
questions like “How do you feel this event affected your business” and “What was the weather
like the day of you Linkage”, we utilize a Likert type scale.
A Likert Type scale usually consists of a numerical range from one to five. A selection of
a one, indicates a completely negative opinion, and a five indicates a completely positive
opinion. A choice of three is completely neutral. This scale enables an opinion to be measured
objectively, by creating an ordinal ranking of a subjective measurement and thus removing
ambiguity. While this opinion data does not indicate the economic impact of the festivals or
events, it is valuable for event planning and business administration. For example, an event with
poor reviews may need changes in order to make improvements for the following year.
Conversely, high Likert scale rankings may determine that similar events will be beneficial to
both cultural organizations and businesses (McLeod, 1970).
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We then ask for percent change in gross sales from the business that is submitting data on
the linkages. To ensure that this data set is calculated consistently and accurately, we created a
Percent Change Calculator.
.
Percentage Change Calculator
One challenge that may arise with our data collection and analysis tool is the
inconsistency of how certain data is calculated. To resolve this issue, we developed a Percentage
Change Calculator which will ensure consistent calculation of metrics. This calculator is
embedded in a Microsoft Excel document that the user can download off the NCD website. The
user inputs the date of the linkage or event, which the calculator will then use to determine which
dates the user needs to enter gross sales data for. Then the calculator will use this gross sales data
to output a percent change that the user will copy and paste into the Google Form as asked. The
Excel calculator is directly downloaded to the user’s computer, so any confidential information is
kept local on their device and therefore kept anonymous.
5.2 Website
One of the Nantucket Cultural District’s primary goals was to increase cultural district
awareness. We determined that because the Steering Committee had already developed physical
media such as maps and brochures (Appendix C), the next step they needed to take was to
develop an increased internet presence. Prior to our project, the district’s web presence was
limited to a single page on the Town of Nantucket Department of Culture and Tourism website.
Figure 10: This figure shows a portion of the Linkage Google Form used to collect data
from participants.
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We proposed to the Executive Steering Committee that we expand the current internet presence
into a fully-featured, independent website. The Steering Committee had already purchased a
website domain name for the district, so we set out to create a website as a deliverable for our
project. We prepared a list of website features that we and the NCD Executive Steering
Committee agreed upon would be necessary for a successful website. Below in Table 5, the
features of the website are listed, as well as the reasoning behind why we determined each
feature was justified.
Feature Reason
Fully supported and accessible on
a mobile device, tablet, and
desktop.
The website needs to work on as many platforms as possible,
especially mobile versions as they are most likely to be accessed
while someone is visiting the district.
Promote district activity through a
calendar.
Events are primarily used to drive traffic to the cultural district. If
residents and tourist are unaware of these events, they will not be
incentivized to visit the district.
Serve as a centralized place for all
district social media.
More sources of exposure leads to more outreach for events,
pictures, and other information in the district.
List all district member
organizations and their
information.
Direct links to member organizations is an incentive for members to
be active in the district. Traffic to the district website can result in
increased web and foot traffic to the member organizations.
Easy-to-access, detailed map of
the district.
Tourists, who may need directions and a map of the district, need an
easy place to refer to a map. Not everyone is going to wander the
district in search of a map.
Login-secured location for
members to enter data that is not
accessible to the public.
The website needs to include a location for businesses and
organizations to access the data collection tool. This would allow
them to submit their data in a secure fashion and on their own time.
Facilitate member networking to
foster linkages.
A major focus of the Steering Committee is fostering linkages, so
having an easy way for those connections to develop was identified
as a welcome additional feature.
Table 4: This table lists the wanted features of our website as well as the reasoning which determined why we needed the feature.
We decided that the best website builder for our project was the Wix.com platform. There
were two reasons for selecting this platform. First, Makeawebsitehub.com ranked Wix.com in its
“Top 6 Website Builder Platforms” (Best, n.d.). Their review states that Wix is an easy-to-use,
full-featured website building platform with competitive pricing. Secondly, the team had
previous experience with the Wix platform, which made it a justifiable choice for us to build the
district’s website in a timely manner.
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The website went through multiple drafts over the course of its development. The
feedback process involved the use of a focus group with the Steering Committee members
providing insight and discussion. Feedback from the focus group resulted in us adding a
comprehensive calendar of district events, featuring member organizations in the banners,
showcasing pictures from district events, as well as general layout changes.
To set up the calendar of cultural district events, we used our liaison connection with the
Department of Culture and Tourism to utilize their current Google Calendar feeds (Appendix H:
Item 2.1). Through this working with the town’s Special Events Coordinator, the cultural district
calendar synchronizes directly to the Department of Culture and Tourism’s calendar. This
arrangement allowed the calendar to be limited to specific cultural events taking place within the
district, as well as those occurring at partner organizations outside the district.
We determined that the best use of the welcome page was to include a scrolling banner to
feature both district organizations and their events. Each organization or major event may have a
space on the banner including a picture, description, and clickable link. This allows a website
visitor to quickly explore and learn about organizations/events in the district. It also helps the
visitor to quickly gain a better understanding of what culture means to the district and the
community (Appendix H).
We determined that we wanted the website to feature a dual-role as an educational tool
for visitors as well as a platform for businesses and cultural organizations to access the data
submittal tool that our team also developed. The website features a page that is only accessible to
district members. To access this page, the user creates an account which they can then use to
request permission to access the page. The administrator of the website then grants access to the
user to view the member page. This members-only page allows easy access to the data submittal
tools, a form to add events to the calendar, and access to the website forum, which is discussed
below. (Appendix H: Item 5)
To facilitate an increase in the number of cultural linkages present in the district, we
introduced a forum to the website. The forum provides a space for the members to interact with
one another and form collaborations. For instance, a museum could be hosting an event and need
someone to cater food for the event. The museum may post on the forum and interested
restaurants can reply directly. This tool will encourage communication and collaborations within
the district and help to instill a sense of community.
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6: RECOMMENDATIONS
In this section, we will explain our recommendations for the NCD sorted by importance,
starting with what we believe is the most important and immediate recommendation. The time
scale is the same for all six recommendations, which is simply “as soon as possible”.
1. The NCD Steering Committee should expand their number of partnerships.
To do this, the NCD begin expansion efforts, as they are currently quite small. To do this, they
need to invite new members must to the district so that knowledge and support of the district
spreads throughout the residential, business, and seasonal communities. We left them with a
short guide on how they should approach new potential members of the district, as well as what
specifically should qualify a new business or organization to be considered a member for the
district.
This toolkit guide specifically outlines what being a member of the cultural district
entails, including requirements and benefits. This includes (outside of the physical location
requirements of being located within the district boundaries) that members must actively
promote and support art and cultural events in the district. Additionally, in order to be
continually considered a member, the business or organization are expected to submit event data
to the Steering Committee through the data collection tool. We recommend that they also make
sure that members of the cultural district actively promote using the different district media
types. This could range from handing out pamphlets/maps, to linking their events and social
media activity to the dedicated district calendar and social media accounts.
One of the benefits to the businesses and cultural organizations that we outlined includes
being able to use the Nantucket Cultural District branding that the Steering Committee
developed. This includes the both the name and logo, as well as any social media tags that the
Steering Committee decides on in the future. We have also outlined the benefit that being a
member will have your organization and events featured more heavily both on the website, as
well as district social media. More outreach for these businesses in better, so these are the
ultimate benefits that the district can directly offer its members.
Finding organizations/businesses to join would not be difficult, as our liaisons have a
wide variety of contacts within the downtown community. The biggest challenge that the district
could face in regards to this is reaching out to organizations is having them deny an invitation to
join. Through this, they should begin to build themselves as a well-known entity within the
downtown area.
37
2. The NCD Steering Committee should begin collecting data from businesses.
To do this, the NCD must create business partnerships that they then collect data from. In order
to demonstrate the economic impacts of events and linkages in the district, the NCD should
collect non-sensitive business sales data. Data collection should begin as soon as possible, as it
gives more time for businesses and organizations to find time to compile and submit their data.
By fulfilling this recommendation, the NCD will be able to develop a more comprehensive
annual report for the MCC.
The NCD may face some challenges when they try to accomplish this goal. Some
businesses may have questions and concerns about the anonymity and security of providing
sensitive data. However, the system only asks for anonymous percentage changes in gross sales
from businesses (through the Percentage Change Calculator), so those arguments can be
addressed in a reasonable manner.
Other challenges may stem from the time involved with using the data collecting system
on both the input (businesses) and output (analytics) sides. To resolve this issue, the NCD must
reinforce to the member organizations that the data collection system is simple with a low time
commitment to fill out. On the analytics side of the system, the NCD must be comfortable using
the system. There are a few complex parts to the system that involve intermediate knowledge of
the Google forms syntax. In order to make sure that the effectiveness of this system is not lost in
any sort of complexity regarding how the system is programmed, we have done two things. The
first was we held a training session with members of the Nantucket Arts Council (NAC), the
Department of Culture and Tourism, and ReMain Nantucket before we left, the second was
created an easy to use written guide that we left as a deliverable for a reference. With these two
concerns addressed, any concerns about the system being too complex are essentially alleviated.
3. The NCD Steering Committee should adopt and update the new NCD website.
To do this, the Nantucket Cultural District Marketing Committee should designate someone
specifically to update and adapt the website to changes over time. The NCD Marketing
Committee and the Nantucket Arts Council; the NCD parent organization, should first link the
website to their domain at “NantucketCulturalDistrict.org”. This should be completed as soon as
possible so that the district and district events may receive a maximum amount of exposure
before the spring shoulder season begins.
The website has many features that, within the scope of our project, we did not have time
to explore. We recommend that the NCD Marketing Committee delve into the many possibilities
that the website platform can offer. Some features of the website that may be useful in the future
38
are the ability to send email newsletters, collect donations, and post their annual reports
publically.
One challenge the NCD Marketing Committee may face while working with the website
is the familiarity of managing the website. Since many members of the committee are new to the
website building software it may take time to get comfortable with making changes to content
and formatting.
To overcome this challenge, we held a training session where we trained a few people
involved in the District how to use and edit the website. Additionally, we left them with a
detailed written guide on how to edit the different sections of the website. However, it is up to
the members of the district to maintain the website so that it accurately represents changes in the
district.
4. The NCD Steering Committee should expand their social media presence.
To do this, the NCD Marketing Committee should expand their current social media presence to
include more platforms as well as post more frequently to increase outreach and public
knowledge of the district and cultural events. The most important social media for the NCD to
utilize is Facebook. We recommend the NCD additionally create profiles on Instagram and
Twitter, but refrain from using YouTube, Reddit, Pinterest, or other social media sites as they are
not suitable for the NCD’s purposes. The use of social media will increase the knowledge and
interest in the district as well as develop another platform for advertising.
This should be accomplished by the NCD Steering Committee, but more specifically
their internal Marketing Committee, as soon as possible. The NCD should set reasonable goals
for their social media outreach. For example, one goal they might have is planning to double
their social media “likes” by the end of the current fiscal year (ending in June 2017), but that is
ultimately up to the NCD Marketing Committee.
To accomplish this goal, the NCD Marketing Committee should increase the frequency
of their posts on social media, such as their Facebook page. They can do this by increasing the
number of original content as well as increasing the number posts that are shared from other
cultural organizations. We identified a popular platform called Hootsuite as a potential tool for
the NCD to utilize. Hootsuite allows for the easy management of multiple social media accounts
at once, and features tools to automate posting, track audiences, and engage with visitors across
all platforms.
One challenge the NCD Marketing Committee may face is the demographic gap between
the cultural district event target age and the age of social media users. The NCD must reach the
people on social media that will be interested in cultural events, and adapt their social media
strategies accordingly.
39
5. The NCD Steering Committee should adopt a sustainable financial model.
To do this, the NCD Steering Committee should to adopt a financial model that is not entirely
dependent on grants. The NCD currently utilizes a financial model based entirely on receiving
grant funding from outside organizations such as ReMain Nantucket and the MCC. Relying on
grant funding as an exclusive funding source is both unpredictable and unreliable, so they must
decide on a funding model that can sustain them in the long run (Buchanan, 2013).
One challenge the NCD will face while trying to develop this financial model is the
competition between themselves and the Chamber of Commerce, who offer a similar incentive to
businesses. The Chamber of Commerce provides advertising for businesses on the island in
return for a yearly membership fee. This means that the NCD must avoid imposing a
membership fee on businesses to avoid competition, but still create a form of revenue to sustain
itself and its expenses.
This recommendation will be considered fulfilled when the NCD has a reliable source of
revenue that does not rely on grants and that won’t compete with the Chamber of Commerce
programs. This should be completed as soon as possible to ensure the sustainability of the district
and its programming.
6. The NCD Steering Committee should track additional metrics in the future.
To do this, the NCD Steering Committee should commit to tracking additional metrics using our
data collection tool. Even if the Nantucket Cultural District changes its current financial model,
data collection will still be important in district planning. The NCD Steering Committee will
most likely continue to seek out grants as an additional source of funding, so having a large
quantity of data on the cultural district is important. To assist the Steering Committee choose
which metrics they would like to track, we have created a list of suggested potential metrics from
a variety of sources (other districts, grant-giving organization, etc.) to give them a foundation for
what metrics they should look into tracking next (Appendix B).
It is up to the NCD Steering Committee to determine which metrics they see as important
to track. We have given them the data collection tool, which can be modified to collect and
compile more types of data. Again, this recommendation should be completed as soon as
possible in order to compile a backlog of useful amount of data, should a grant or program arise
that requires a specific data set.
40
7: CONCLUSION & FUTURE WORK
The recommendations section explained what we believe the next steps are for the
Nantucket Cultural District. They are organized in order of importance and start with
approaching and expanding members of the district. We then endorse the use of our data
collection system to collect economic impact data from businesses. Next, we believe the NCD
should use social media and its new website to reach out to residents and tourists to educate them
about the district and create interest in events in the shoulder seasons. Lastly, we recommend that
the NCD adopt a sustainable financial model that is independent of grants and expand upon its
data tracking to other metrics.
From our findings, we have identified a project for future WPI students to possibly
pursue in the future. We identified that there was a need to analyze public parking policies and
availability during the shoulder and off-seasons. A few of our interviews found that parking
restrictions and ticketing regulations are two factors that keep year-round residents away from
the downtown area during the off-season. To do this, we suggest that a future WPI project team
interview members of the community from many different demographic groups as well as policy
makers and enforcers in town. This will give the team a clear perspective of the challenges that
the town faces when trying to improve user experience downtown. A desirable outcome of such
a project would be either the recommendation to change the public parking policies to better
accommodate residents or improve public parking availability, and how to do so. We believe this
project to be useful to the town to increase residential visitation during the shoulder and off-
season.
7.1 Reflection
The Nantucket Cultural District Steering Committee and the Executive Steering
Committee have been extremely helpful in the completion of this project. Without the
cooperation and time dedicated to us by these members, our project would not have been a
success. We appreciate everything that the community and the NCD has taught us about working
in the real world, including the many unexpected challenges that come with it. Our team has
gained experience working with professionals, engaging members of the public, building useful
graphical representations, and developing website platforms.
41
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APPENDIX A: DISTRICT MEMBER INFORMATION
This section shows the different compositions of the Nantucket Cultural District, the first one
being by type of organization by street, the second showing the number of members by street
sorted from least to most.
Item 1: Nantucket Cultural District Composition by Street
(Rondeau, 2016)
46
Item 2: Total Members of the Nantucket Cultural District by Street Name
(Rondeau, 2016)
47
APPENDIX B: LIST OF METRICS
This appendix contains a list of the different metrics we found as being potentially useful
to the Nantucket Cultural District to look into using in the future. The metrics table starts with
the required MCC metrics, the NCD suggested metrics, and then lists metrics that other
organizations track. It is split across two pages for organizational and ease-of-viewing’s sake.
Item 1: List of Potential Metrics
Metric: Adapted From:
Tracking Visitor Attendance MCC Requirements
Changes in Building Occupancy Rates MCC Requirements
Changes in meals and lodging tax MCC Requirements
Economic Impacts of Cultural District Events Sponsor-Suggested Metric
Knowledge of the Cultural District Sponsor-Suggested Metric
Popular tourist activities Barnstable Village Cultural District
Venues Available for Local Artists
Barnstable Village Cultural District &
National Endowment for the Arts
Tourists Spending in the District Barnstable Village Cultural District
Numbers of Empty Storefronts Barnstable Village Cultural District
Empty Spaces that Cultural Institutions are Moving
Into
Barnstable Village Cultural District
Internet/Social Media Presence (Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, Website Traffic, etc.)
Springfield Central Cultural District
Changes in Grant Revenue
Springfield Central Cultural District &
National Endowment for the Arts
Changes in District Membership
Springfield Central Cultural District &
Americans for the Arts
Amount of & Types of Major Cultural District
events.
Required in MD, KY
Numbers & Types of Partnerships at the Local
Level
Required in MD, KY
Registration Numbers for Cultural District Events Salisbury Cultural District
48
Item 2: List of Potential Metrics (Continued)
Metric: Adapted From:
Revenue in Restaurants, Hotels, Retail, and
Galleries
National Endowment for the Arts & Americans
for the Arts
Tax Revenue and Property Values
National Endowment for the Arts & Americans
for the Arts
Charitable Assets National Endowment for the Arts
Community Assets National Endowment for the Arts
Number of Events and Attendance
National Endowment for the Arts & Americans
for the Arts
Number of Volunteers and Volunteering
Organizations
National Endowment for the Arts
Number of Trusted Role Models National Endowment for the Arts
Measures of Innovation (Patents Granted, new
Businesses)
National Endowment for the Arts
Jobs Created/Retained
National Endowment for the Arts &
Americans for the Arts
Demographics of Home-Buyers National Endowment for the Arts
Residential Vacancies National Endowment for the Arts
Change in Consumption National Endowment for the Arts
Number of Visitors Americans for the Arts
Value of Historic Preservation Tax Credits Americans for the Arts
Partnerships between Businesses (Linkages) Nantucket Cultural District
49
APPENDIX C: TOURIST BROCHURE
This section contains the currently used Cultural District brochure. This is currently in
print and exists at member organizations within the district, including the Chamber of Commerce
and the Visitor Center. The front lists events, showcases pictures, and gives sources of more
information to those who read it. The back is the district map which shows the locations of the
member organizations located within the district.
Item 1: Front of Brochure
50
Item 2: Back of Brochure (District Map)
(Murphy, Schulte, & Gonzales (2016, September). Personal Communication).
51
APPENDIX D: CALENDAR OF 2016 ANNUAL EVENTS
This appendix contains a list, created by the Chamber of Commerce, of annual events that
bring large amounts of people to the island.
(Murphy, Schulte, & Gonzales (2016, September). Personal Communication).
52
APPENDIX E: SURVEY QUESTIONS; TOURISTS / RESIDENTS, &
This is a sample from the list of questions that we asked residents, cultural organizations
and businesses during the interview process. Other questions were asked, but this set of questions
was deemed as the most important.
Survey Questions
Residents Businesses/Organizations
Do you know what a Cultural District is?
Did you know that Nantucket had a Cultural District?
Did you come to downtown for a specific event?
Have you been or do you plan on visiting a
museum, art gallery, or church / religious
institution? How did you hear about said
institutions?
Do you think there are advantages to collaborating
with other organizations or businesses?
What do you know about the Nantucket Cultural
District?
What type of information/data have you collected?
Are you more likely to go downtown if there is a
large cultural event taking place?
Do you think the cultural district affects your
business? How?
What software do you utilize to track your
business data? (e.g. Intuit, Quicken, Access …)
Are you a member of the Nantucket Cultural
District? If no, would you be interested in
becoming a member of the Nantucket Cultural
District?
What is the last Cultural Event that you went into
to town for?
Would you be willing to share some of your
economic data so we could cross reference it with
cultural district events?
53
APPENDIX F: CULTURAL DISTRICT MAPS
This Appendix contains maps of various cultural districts including the Nantucket
Cultural District.
Item 1: The Nantucket Cultural District
(Murphy, Schulte, & Gonzales (2016, September). Personal Communication).
54
Item 2: The Garden District Tucson, AZ
55
Item 3: The Barnstable Village Cultural District
(Barnstable Village Cultural District Facebook Page, 2016)
56
Item 4: The Salisbury Cultural District Worcester, MA
(Looft, 2016, October 6. Personal Communication).
57
Item 5: The Springfield Downtown Cultural
(Springfield Downtown, n.d.)
58
APPENDIX G: Verbal Informed Consent
This appendix contains the verbal consent template for our interviews.
Verbal Consent for Issuing Surveys or Interviews:
Spoken in a friendly, approachable manner:
“[Greetings] We are a project team from Worcester Polytechnic Institute here in Massachusetts. We’re
working in conjunction with the newly formed Nantucket Cultural District to assist them in collecting
data about a few different aspects of the district. To obtain different opinions regarding these aspects, we
would like to ask you a few relevant questions. Your participation in this survey/interview is entirely
voluntary and you may withdraw at any time. Your responses will be recorded anonymously, no names or
identifying information will appear in any of our project reports or publications. It is important to us that
you fully understand your rights throughout this process and if you have any questions about this, please
let us know.”
Although we do not currently intend to, if we wish to take any photographs or videos for our
project, we will refer to the protocol developed by the 2014 Cape Town Project Center Standards.
59
APPENDIX H: WEBSITE
This appendix contains screenshots of the different pages on our website, found at
“https://teamncd.wixsite.com/ackncd”. It will be updated to
“https://nantucketculturaldistrict.org” when the Nantucket Arts Council oversees our website in
the future.
Item 1: Home
60
Item 1.1: Social Media
Item 1.2: ShoutOuts
61
Item 1.3: District Calendar
Item 2: Visit the District
62
Item 2.1: Cultural Organizations of the District
Item 3: Explore Nantucket
63
Item 4: About Us
Item 4.1: Mission, Goal, MCC, Steering Committee Members
64
Item 4.2: Contact Us
Item 5: Members
65
Item 5.1: Forum
Item 5.2: Submit your Calendar Event
66
Item 5.3: Member Forms
67
Item 5.4: Percent Change Calculator
68
APPENDIX I: DATA COLLECTION TOOL
This Appendix contains screenshots of our data collection tool and our data analysis tool
displaying graphs of fake data. These graphs were made for proof of concept purposes to show
the capabilities of the data analysis tool and to show what graphs will be automatically created
once real data in input into the tool.
Item 1: Average Attendance per event
69
Item 2: Attendance over Time by Event
Item 3: Average Opinion of Cultural Events by Event
70
Item 4: Percentage Change Correlated with Linkages by Season
Item 5: Percentage Change Correlated with linkages by Business Type
71
Item 6: Lasting Percentage impact of Linkages by Business Type
Item 7: Average Opinion of Linkages Effect on Business by Season
72
Item 8: Distribution of Linkages by Season
Item 9: Post-Event Percent Change in Gross Sales by Season of Linkages
73
Item 10: Percent Change in Gross Sales caused by Linkages Over Time
Item 11: Comparison of Percentage Change in Gross Sales by Event
74
Item 12: Average Likert Score of Opinion of Event
Item 13: Percent Change in Gross Sales over Time by Event
75
Item 14: Comparison of Percent Change in Gross Sales by Event
Item 15: Percentage Change Correlated to business Type by Event
76
Item 16: Percentage Change Correlated to Event by Business Type
Item 17: Percentage Change Correlated to to Business type by Event
77
Item 18: Percentage Change Correlated to Event by Business Type