Arts & Science Council

About once a decade, the Arts & Science Council (ASC) develops the Cultural Vision Plan as a road map for the future of arts, science and history in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. The qualitative and quantitative data is gathered from in-depth, multi-year discussions with civic leaders, ASC affiliates and the general public.

ASC came to Kelso Communications to build awareness and enthusiasm for a report that is vital to the community but is also too academic for a typical citizen to see: What’s in it for me?

We created a campaign rich in fun, unexpected imagery to communicate the relevance of art and culture in every community. We started with teaser visuals on Facebook illustrating how art and culture help us “mix it up,” with images of people divided into three panels – in normal everyday clothes on one panel, in an artistic setting on another and in a scientific or historical setting on the third. Facts about the benefits of art and culture reinforced how creativity connects us all.

Once we helped shape hundreds of pages of research into a tight topline summary, we brought the Cultural Vision Plan to life with a creative campaign inspired by surrealist artists such as Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte. A series of brochure and poster images showcased a crazy tapestry of color and movement, so intricately detailed that part of the fun was picking out every character and every artistic reference.

The campaign was rolled out through printed pieces, social media and a TED-like conference that brought together community and arts leaders to strategize about carrying the ASC mission and message forward: Culture is fun, culture is alive, culture is for all of us.