City of Boston launches brand for Boston Arts Festival.

A new brand identity and communications program launches the Boston Arts Festival, a showcase of the City's contemporary arts scene kicking off the fall / winter season of visual and performing arts throughout Boston.

Sametz Blackstone Associates launches Boston Arts Festival brand for City of Boston.

Boston, MA, September 2003—Sametz Blackstone Associates, a leading Boston communications practice, launched a new brand identity and communications program for the Boston Arts Festival, a showcase of the City's contemporary arts scene that kicks off the fall / winter season of visual and performing arts throughout Boston. The brand program was developed by Sametz Blackstone in collaboration with the Mayor's Office of Special Events, Tourism and Film, and the Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs.

The first of a planned annual event, the Boston Arts Festival presents a juried show of more than seventy-five visual artists, as well as live performances that preview theater, dance, music and other performing groups of the upcoming season. The Festival brand uses colloquial Boston language ("ähts") to help identify the event as uniquely Boston

Taking place on 13 September 2003, the event is also one of the first uses of the new Christopher Columbus Park, the first completed phase of the emerging Rose Kennedy Greenway park system that will sit atop the completed Big Dig.

"'Ähts' showcases our local and regional talent—offering something for everyone in a relaxed, open-air, waterfront environment. While Boston is often seen as provincial and uptight in its approach to culture, there are, in fact, remarkable innovations—and terrific fun to be had—in Boston's cultural landscape. The new brand is about having fun, enjoying art, and celebrating the upcoming season of extensive cultural offerings," says Andrew Maydoney, vice president of Sametz Blackstone Associates.

"The City needed a signature event to launch its outstanding season of arts and cultural programs and Sametz Blackstone Associates was a logical partner to create the brand. Their work in arts and culture, along with their commitment to the things that make this city great came through in the brand program for the Arts Festival. The Ahts Festival is uniquely Boston. People "get it", love it, and remember it," said Cecily Foster, Director of the Office of Special Events, Tourism & Film.

Sametz Blackstone Associates has worked with cultural organizations of diverse scale and scope for more than twenty-five years. As part of its ongoing commitment to the community, the firm is a sponsor of the "Ähts" Festival along with JPMorgan, Brown and Co., Boston Magazine, Target, WBZ, Shops at Prudential Center, Broadway in Boston, and the Colonnade Hotel. Sametz Blackstone Associates also provides communications and brand counsel to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood, Boston Pops, Boston Ballet, FleetBoston Celebrity Series, the New Repertory Theater, Boston Center for the Arts, and other arts and cultural organizations.

About Sametz Blackstone Associates

Sametz Blackstone Associates provides communications counsel to leading corporate, academic and cultural organizations. A twenty-five year-old global practice located in Boston's historic South End, Sametz Blackstone integrates strategy, design, and technology to develop and produce compelling communications that help evolving organizations navigate change. Clients include centenarians and start-ups: the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Ballet, Boston Center for the Arts, Goodwin Procter, Scudder Investments / Deutsche Bank, Harvard University, Yale University, and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. For additional information and project images: www.sametz.com.

###