Creative Brief

On Thursday, October 19^th, Washington’s art enthusiasts packed the Georgetown, DC offices of Hickok Cole for Art Night 2017 – our annual fundraiser in support of Washington Project for the Arts (WPA). Each year Hickok Cole works with WPA to host a juried art show with all proceeds going to further WPA’s mission of providing essential resources to support the creative spirit and success of regional artists. All artists receive 50% of sales, with the other 50% donated to WPA. Hickok Cole sponsors event expenses, allowing all proceeds to benefit the DC art community. Now in its seventeenth year, the event has raised over one million dollars for WPA and local artists.

Art Night is known for drawing a big crowd, but this year we wanted to put the emphasis back on fundraising. To do this, we developed a new sponsorship category, Art Cherubs, to complement our Art Angels program and attract the next generation of art lovers and supporters. Art Cherubs were asked to commit $500 to the purchase of artwork, and event curators were challenged to increase the number of $100-$500 pieces to accommodate the new audience. Invite and advertising content, as well as event signage, was updated to emphasize the purchase of artwork. The Art Cherub program attracted eight new supporters, resulting in an additional $4,000 towards our grand total. With fewer but more targeted guests thanks to a scrubbed list, and a refocused emphasis on buying art, Art Night 2017 raised a record-breaking $120,000 for WPA.