HOW DO WE TALK ABOUT ORLANDO AS AN ARTS AND CULTURAL DESTINATION? That question is at the heart of Thali Sugisawa’s role with United Arts of Central Florida. The newly minted director of cultural tourism for UA engages members of the hospitality industry to showcase Orlando’s entire arts ecosystem, promoting locally produced shows in the same conversation as their larger counterparts, such as a Shakira concert.
“Let’s say you have a cousin in Kansas City and all they know about Orlando is the theme parks,” says Sugisawa. “You want to explain what we have here locally as far as arts and culture. What words would you use?”
United Arts’ cultural tourism initiative was launched in January 2024, in effort to leverage the relationship between United Arts and Visit Orlando.
“My journey has been trying the understand how to talk about how the whole arts ecosystem fits into the picture,” says Sugisawa. “Where not just the Dr. Phillips Center, not just the ballet. How do we think authentically about Orlando and Central Florida as an arts and culture destination?
The first step is to take into consideration the needs from the travel & tourism and hospitality communities. Sugisawa uses the example of a tourist going to a hotel’s front desk to inquire about live music that evening.
“Maybe instead of recommending only Disney Springs, they can also recommend Timucua or Blue Bamboo. That’s how we started,” she says.
From there, adds Sugisawa, it was figuring out how to package more options. That meant reimagining United Arts’ calendar, artsinorlando, and adding video and graphics to enhance the message.
Another component is Arts in Orlando training, a 45-minute online course of United Arts’ hospitality partners on how to talk about the arts, make recommendations and enhance the guest experience.
“Not only do we want concierge,” says Sugisawa, “but also front desk people and sales teams to do it, so when they’re planning an event at their hotels, they can hire local musicians and artists. To drive that, we created an artist hub and now have more than 100 artists who are listed and actively looking for gigs in the private sector.”
Sugisawa says that it’s important for local arts organizations to have broad-reaching partnerships to diversify revenue and make sure the arts are represented in sectors such as early childhood education to seniors organizations.
“People are looking at opportunities to make their quality of life better,” she says. “We are very fortunate to have a county that really loves the arts.”