Wausau room tax commission approves Festival of Arts and partial Artrageous funding; CVB asks for larger contract

At a City Hall meeting, the Wausau Room Tax Commission approved a full room-tax grant of $10,808 to the Wausau Festival of Arts and approved a $5,000 grant to Wausau Artrageous Weekend, and heard a request from the Convention and Visitors Bureau to extend its contract and raise its room-tax share.

The grants matter because room-tax revenues are the commission’s primary tool for paying for marketing that brings overnight visitors to Wausau, which in turn drives hotel room nights and local spending. Commissioners discussed how the two weekend arts events overlap in audience and marketing and debated whether grants should push organizers toward greater coordination.

Tim White, a representative of the Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the commission the CVB’s current contract runs through the end of the year and said the bureau would like the commission to consider a three-year contract and a raise from the existing 40% share to 45%. “We would like to up the contract to 3 years. We’d like you to consider, giving 45%, instead…