For Immediate Release January 24, 2006

For More Information Contact: Rich Schneider, 317-278-4564 rcschnei@iupui.edu

National Cultural Guru, $25,000 prize to Highlight Cultural Tourism Conference

INDIANAPOLIS - A “national cultural guru” will headline an inaugural conference at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis on advancing cultural tourism in Indiana.

Richard Florida, widely regarded as one of the most influential scholars on the rise of the creative class and the impact of cultural tourism on a city's economy, will headline the Cultural Tourism Conference, to be held May 12, 2006.

Hosted by the IU Department of Tourism, Conventions and Event Management (TCEM), the conference will be held at the University Place Conference Center, 850 W. Michigan, Indianapolis.

Cultural tourism and hospitality specialists, local and state officials, travel professionals, business owners, artists, city and town groups, academics and consultants are among those invited to attend the first conference of its kind, focusing on trends and future development in Indiana cultural tourism.

The conference will feature sessions on public relations, new technology, researching and applying for grants, niche marketing, power of community: public policy and you, and creating affordable, powerful special events.

A $25,000 prize will be awarded for the “best cultural tourism practice.” The prize is made possible through a grant from the Efroymson Fund of the Central Indiana Community Foundation.

“This conference will provide a unique forum for the exchange of ideas, to build networks, and to discuss trends and future development in Indiana cultural tourism,” said Sotiris H. Avgoustis, Chair and Associate Professor of the TCEM Department.

Florida is Hirst Professor in the School of Public Policy at George Mason University and an adjunct scholar with the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. Throughout his distinguished academic career, he has also been a visiting professor at M.I.T. and Harvard University 's John F. Kennedy School of Government. In addition, he has served as an advisor to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Congress, state and local governments, the Canadian government, the European Union, the Japanese government, and multinational corporations.

The author of five books, including Beyond Mass Production and the groundbreaking 2002 bestseller The Rise of the Creative Class, Dr. Florida has been called a "national cultural guru" by The Boston Globe.

For more information about the conference, visit: http://www.culturaltourismconference.com/

###