Catlin Whitington of ArtPrize

Austin, Texas, transplant Catlin Whitington moved with his family to Grand Rapids to be at the helm of ArtPrize, the world’s most attended public art event

Catlin Whitington is no stranger to the arts or bringing large-scale events to life. The Austin, Texas, native worked as a planner for the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference for nearly a decade before serving as vice president of campus operations at the city’s Long Center for the Performing Arts.

Building on his passion for increasing access to the arts, Catlin was wooed by Grand Rapids in 2023, where the high quality of life is intrinsically linked to the community’s identity. As the executive director of ArtPrize, Catlin is bringing his experience and expertise to the 15-year-old marquee event – and leading its evolution into ArtPrize 2.0.

On his Texas experiences

I was born in Austin, Texas. I also grew up overseas in Thailand for several years, and then lived in New Mexico and southern Colorado for a little while. But I kept coming back to Austin; I really loved the culture and the scene there. I'm an artist, a musician, and a creative. Moving back to Austin in the late 90s, it was a really happening scene for artists and musicians. I studied commercial music management and music and music production at the community college, and then studied urban planning at the University of Texas. I was specifically looking at how events and municipalities work together, and the economic impact of events and how tourism and tourism marketing drive economic development.

I started working with SXSW after I graduated and worked in the planning department, working with community venues, the city and a lot of the stakeholders.

But I had two young kids, and it was taking a lot out of me every year producing that event. I went to work for the Long Center for Performing Arts in October 2019 as VP of operations. It was the home of the ballet, symphony, and opera in Austin, but we also hosted a lot of community events. Then we ran into the pandemic, and I spent the next three years trying to keep the venue functional.

On becoming Executive Director of ArtPrize

I knew the city manager of Grand Rapids, Mark Washington, because he used to be the assistant city manager in Austin, and the deputy city manager in Grand Rapids used to be the director of communications in Austin. I worked with them in my previous roles, and Mark knew my work in building stakeholder consensus and in public-private partnership. That led me to having a conversation about Grand Rapids and ArtPrize – what it was, and where it was going.

It was interesting to think what ArtPrize could be for the community – this decentralized, open, global event that was free and open to the public. It's not a traditional art fair or traditional event. ArtPrize is not curated by us; it's curated between the artists and the venues predominantly. I felt this was a dynamic that was really missing from the cultural world right now, because a lot of times art is inaccessible to the community at large.

On helping to lead ArtPrize 2.0

With the new model for ArtPrize, we're under a new public-private leadership structure, which I think really lends an element of authenticity to what we're trying to do. A public-private partnership, if done right, can allow for the transparency of building an important community asset, while at the same time, the flexibility of being able to grow, develop and evolve.

Now we are a partnership with Kendall College of Art and Design, the City of Grand Rapids and Downtown Grand Rapids, Inc. (DGRI), and I think that between the three, it really makes sense because we are a community asset. We are a public asset by and large, so that lends itself to the city. We are an economic development tool in that we are driving this cultural value, and that lends itself to DGRI. And with Kendall College of Art and Design, we have the support of a very strong institute of higher education that focuses on creative arts.

I spent the first six months out here really listening to people about what ArtPrize meant to them, what it was, and what people thought it could be. What I found was everybody had a little bit of a different consideration of what ArtPrize was supposed to be or what it is. A lot of what my team is trying to focus on is a world-class art competition and an authentic cultural event that's fun and expressive. Everything else will fall in place, and it will be a successful thing, and people will enjoy it.

On his family’s new life in Michigan

Austin was a great town to be 30 and not have kids, but not a great town to get a little older and have kids. I really was looking at the quality of life and the affordability that Grand Rapids offered, and it seemed like a solid city. It has a very interesting historical downtown core, which I really like, and I appreciate just from an urban planning esthetic background. It's a mid-sized market, but it's growing, and it's strong, and it punches well above its weight.

I really love the access to the outdoors here. There's a lot of investment in public assets out here – I must throw a big shout out to the YMCA. Texas does not have a whole lot of public land, but Michigan does, and I really appreciate that. I appreciate being able to drive to the beach in 30 minutes and being able to drive into the woods in 30 minutes the other direction.

We've found ourselves a nice spot here in Grand Rapids on the southeast side of town. There's good access to all the resources that we need. It's been very hospitable and a very easy transition. There have also been some programs that have been really helpful. Hello West Michigan has been great. They host happy hours for recently relocated professionals and executives coming into the area. My professional network here has also been extremely helpful in helping me to make new connections and find new space.

On what to expect from ArtPrize’s future

We're working a lot with community partners to help support them and find space for their programmatic elements during ArtPrize. We're hosting a break dance battle. We're working with the Grand Rapids Symphony and a group of chocolatiers to have an artisan chocolate symposium with symphony performances. We partnered with the Grand Rapids African American Arts and Music Festival.

While ArtPrize is, by and large, open and free to the public, we will have several events that are special, ticketed experiences that are really unlike any other. All these things are really our work to make a more diverse and expansive experience to develop this cultural asset. We're trying to move people through this four-and-a-half-square-mile geographic district to go to all these things and to move around the district and enjoy, discover and rediscover downtown Grand Rapids.