Best Public/Private Partnership

Both the public and private sectors have a vital interest in the district and must work together to achieve common goals of Main Street's revitalization. Each sector has a role to play and each must understand the other's strengths and limitations in order to forge an effective partnership. This category salutes the partnerships that help Main Street organizations achieve their goals

Hands through History - Sedona Western Films

The Sedona Main Street Program nominates the relationships and partners who came together to create the very successful “Hands Through History” - Sedona Western Films event and commemoratives for AZMS Best Public/Private Partnership. This unique project was possible due to the hard work, dedication, and outright persistence of each and every partner involved.

 

Dwight Brooks, Owner of Sedona Movie Studio contacted Sedona Main Street Program (SMSP) to discuss the possibility of creating a “Western Walk of Fame” for Sedona. Dwight wanted a way to show appreciation to all celebrities who have made western movies filmed in Sedona, increase awareness of those celebrities and their body of work produced here, and create commemoratives (a granite plaque embedded in cement with celebrity handprints) that visitors and patrons could learn from, appreciate and enjoy. Dwight wanted a venue to give back to his community…… and he did, with the help of others!

 

SMSP contacted the City of Sedona to share this unique idea and get the City go ahead and their buy-in, for inclusion of these commemoratives in the public right-of- way within the SMSP District. Thank goodness the City endorsed this project and proposed placement concurrent with the Uptown Enhancement Project, slated to begin November 2005. The process for acceptance took over one year, and SMSP had to convince Dwight to have faith in the “system” and SMSP and not take his idea to private sectors to be completed.

 

In the interim, SMSP Promotions Committee created the unique concept for highlighting this project via an event to honor the celebrities. They created the:

 

• Name of the project/event – Hands through History: Sedona Western Films

• Design of commemoratives – red granite plaques with celebrities’ etched image, name, movie & date

• Idea to embed plaque in “red-rock red” cement in which celebrities imprint their hands or cowboy boots

• Event to honor celebrities - presentation from each, clips from movie filmed in Sedona & live imprints

 

Dwight Brooks had the contacts of the Western Celebrities and called upon them to come to Sedona without a fee attached. Partners were acquired to purchase celebrity air flights to and from Arizona, and provide limousine transportation to and from Phoenix airport. So getting the “who” (celebrity) and “how” (air and ground transportation) were arranged; but now we needed the “where” and “when” for no cost, and another partner came through! “Why? ” …..... Because creating these historical commemoratives for the public’s enjoyment and appreciation would preserve the western genre for generations to come.

 

SMSP and Dwight continued to gather partners to create an event to showcase western celebrities. The City of Sedona donated the cost of the granite plaques, a portion of the cement costs, storage and the eventual cost for installation of the commemoratives in the streetscape project in Uptown.

“Hands Through History: Sedona Western Films” Partnerships 

• $ 3200.00 + installation costs – City of Sedona public partner investment

• 84 +  Event Partners, Sponsors and Volunteers (see attached list)

• $ 77,251.85 in donations of cash and services from private partners

• Priceless – celebrities’ participation

Sedona Main Street Program nominates the diversity of the partners who foresaw the benefit to our community. They kept steadfast in the belief that the Sedona Main Street Program District was and should be the only location of these cultural-heritage commemoratives.