Visit Laredo explains how community groups can list events and promote local artists

Aileen Ramos, director of the Laredo Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the Public Arts Commission that community groups and arts organizations can submit events to the VisitLaredo.com calendar and the Visit Laredo mobile app and that most submissions are approved within three to five business days. "As soon as you know of your event... you can go in and submit the event on our website and in 3 to 5 business days it will get approved," Ramos said.

Ramos said the CVB encourages simple, Instagram- and Facebook-ready flyers with clear date, time and location information and recommended submitting event details several weeks in advance so listings can appear on the calendar. She cautioned that because the CVB is funded by hotel-occupancy tax, its promotional activities must target visitors: "Everything that we do... has to fall into the guidelines... which means in turn that everything that we do has to be to attract visitors," Ramos said.

The bureau operates multiple channels for promotion, Ramos said: a website calendar that populates the Visit Laredo app, social-media accounts, a newsletter for subscribers (including distribution into Mexico through agency partners), and media relationships in Monterrey. She said CVB staff can work with organizers to post press releases, provide targeted social promotion for larger or longer-running events, and share analytics when available: "If social media provides a lot of information in terms of engagement... if it's available, we can share it," Ramos said.

Ramos also described the CVB's visitor-collateral program and retail outlets: quarterly drop-offs of visitor guides and seasonal materials to hotels and attractions (March, June, September and December), a downtown visitor center shop, an airport shop, and a new mobile visitor unit that will attend events and act as a pop-up shop. The bureau purchases items from local artists (rather than taking them on consignment) and plans to add an online retail option in the coming months.

Commission members discussed collaborative ideas, including a postcard program and a recurring call for local artists to submit work for prints and souvenirs. Ramos said the CVB could commission and pay artists for postcards using tourism funds. She also suggested featuring artists on the bureau's podcast; Visit Laredo is entering its third season and can run evergreen episodes to highlight local talent.

The presentation concluded with staff offers to help troubleshoot uploads, to provide the GIS link for verifying city-owned sites for public-art placements, and to add the commission’s requests to the bureau’s distribution list. The commission expressed appreciation for the CVB's promotional support and the range of services available to visiting artists and event organizers.