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Festivals – The Drivers to RE-CONNECTING Our Communities

Date: Feb 23, 2021

Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

NEW DATE: TUESDAY, February 23, 2021
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. MST
Festivals – The Drivers to RE-CONNECTING Our Communities

Keli O'Neill Wenzel, CFEE, President/CEO
O'Neill Marketing & Event Management
Stephen King, CFEE, Executive Director
Des Moines Arts Festival, Des Moines, IA

Perhaps one of the most positive outcomes of this global pandemic, has been the (re)opening of doors/conversations with many community stakeholders that we may have lost touch with, or never thought to work in partnership with before. We know what our events contribute to our respective communities and that is usually one of the primary personal drivers/rewards for those in our industry. This committee addressed how our events/organizations might lead the efforts to keep our communities bonded during these difficult times, to ensure the long-term health of all events, and how we might work more closely with our cities, other events and organizations, volunteers, artists and vendors, sponsors, et al. to help all of our communities come through this storm stronger and keep all of our events financially secure and healthy.

Keli Wenzel O’Neill, CFEE is the President/Managing Partner of O’Neill Marketing & Event Management. She is the creator and orchestrator of many of Kansas City’s most successful civic, corporate and entertainment events. She serves as the founding Executive Director of the highly successful Kansas City Irish Fest. She is co-founder and Producer of the Jiggle Jam Family Music Fest, as well as executive producer of Boulevardia Craft Beer and Music festival and Kansas City RiverFest (KC’s largest Independence Day Celebration). Other recent projects include VIP coordination for Amway Global Presents the Tina Turner Tour, planning and management for the opening of the National WWI Museum at Kansas City's landmark Liberty Memorial, opening events for the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, director of Kansas City’s City-Wide Events committee for the 2012 MLB All Star Game, marketing and communication liaison for the Big 12 Championships.

Stephen M. King, CFEE, is the executive director of the Des Moines Arts Festival® in Des Moines, Iowa and currently serves on the IFEA World Board of Directors. He chaired the organization in 2017. Projects throughout his career in events have garnered more than 300 industry awards from organizations like the IFEA, TFEA, and the International Downtown Association. Before turning his full attention in July, 2011 to the Des Moines Arts Festival, King led the Downtown Events Group from 2006-2011, served as President/CEO of Celebrate Fairfax, Inc. in Fairfax, VA and was the Director of the festivals and events division of Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. in Fort Worth, Tx, where he produced the MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival. Stephen also is a past director of the National Association of Independent Artists, IFEA Foundation Board of Directors, and is a founding member of ZAPPlication™, the art fair industry’s universal online application system. King is a regular speaker and contributor to the various festival, event and sponsorship conferences and conventions and faculty member of the IFEA/NRPA Event Management School.

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Festivals – The Drivers to RE-CONNECTING Our Communities

NEW DATE: TUESDAY, February 23, 2021 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. MSTFestivals – The Drivers to RE-CONNECTING Our Communities

NEW DATE: TUESDAY, February 23, 2021
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. MST
Festivals – The Drivers to RE-CONNECTING Our Communities