Five Questions

>>If your office looks too much like an office, original art can not only spruce it up, it can give the space a tone of distinction to help convey your business's image.

ArtFest Fort Myers, an annual fine art festival coming up in February in downtown Fort Myers, has launched a Corporate Art Buyers program that makes it easier for businesses to add an aesthetic element to their spaces and support artists at the same time. Sharon McAllister is in her seventh year as director of the festival, which will showcase works of all kinds by 200 nationally known artists, selected from a field of more than 800, from around the country.

1. What is the Corporate Art Buyers program?

Companies can pre-commit to the purchase of artwork at the art festival. It's like buying a gift certificate or a coupon. They may commit for $600 or $1,000 or $2,000 or whatever; then they come to the art festival, they buy what they like, and we give them big ribbons that [are hung] in the artist's booth. For example, Chico's is one of our corporate art buyers so it says, "Chico's Purchase Award." They get some recognition for having made the purchase. The artists get a ribbon, which is good for their sales because people like to see that somebody else liked that artist. It gives them comfort in what they're buying.

2. What do businesses get from supporting arts?

It impacts and changes the whole cultural feeling of the community. When people can walk around and drive around and see original artwork-they don't have to go to a museum or a gallery-it becomes part of their life. It's all part of making it a thriving community. [ArtFest] is becoming a visitor destination. We get funding from the tourist and development board because we're strong enough to influence tourism. And [businesses and developers] understand that it makes for a better community and they will sell more property because of that.

3. What do companies do with the art?

They can put it in their offices, they can buy it for their homes, they can use it as gifts for employees, or it can be given to clients. Artwork isn't just two-dimensional [paintings] that hang on the wall. It's blown glass and ceramics and sculpture. All kinds of things fit into different programs a business might have. Fort Myers Toyota-they're one of our corporate art buyers-[is] building a new truck center as part of their dealership, and they're going to use all art from the art festival to decorate the new truck dealership.

4. Where else do you see corporate art catching on?

The city [of Fort Myers] started a public art program, and so all the high-rise developers-and actually anybody who is building in the city-are starting to add a lot of artwork to their spaces and the exterior of their spaces.

5. How have the artists reacted to the program?

They love it. It's important to the artists to be able to see that the business community supports the art festival and supports the artists through the purchase of work-not just as sponsors of the event. They'd rather see businesses actually buy original art and use that to decorate their space. That's why we started the program, so the artists would see the business community supported that purchase.

-Interview by Sammy Mack