Bravo of Greater Des Moines’ Annual Awards Gala in Review
Recently, Strategic America was honored to have the great opportunity to work on a unique project for the Ninth Annual Awards Gala for Bravo of Greater Des Moines.
Bravo is a nonprofit organization committed to increasing cultural awareness, advocacy and funding, as well as fostering collaboration among arts, culture and heritage organizations throughout the Greater Des Moines Area. To get some insights on the project and the turnout of the Gala, we turned to the creative director—Strategic America’s very own Jerry Stoner!
Q. In your own words, explain the impact that Bravo of Greater Des Moines has on our local community?
A. Arts and culture enhance the quality of our lives and bring personal enjoyment, intellectual stimulation, and opportunities for the people in our community. They’ve also helped fuel community and economic development.
Q. What was your inspiration for the video?
A. The co-chairs were Bob Ritz, CEO of Mercy Medical Center and Eric Crowell, CEO of Unity Point, so I thought it would be fun to create a humorous video that merged the healthcare and the arts. At the beginning of the video Bob and Eric explain how they’ve joined forces to combat a decease called Cultural Artosis by creating ICU: Intensive Cultural Unit. The rest of the video features an emergency room where doctors and nurses treat the uncultured.
Q. What was your favorite part about working on this project?
A. My favorite part was working with, and in some cases, acting with fellow SA co-workers.
Q. What challenges did you encounter along the way?
A. Really no challenges. The client gave us plenty of room to be creative with very few constraints.
Q. For those of us that weren’t able to attend the Gala, tell us about the night and how you think the presentation was received?
A. It was a lot of fun and the client and audience were very appreciative. They laughed in all the right places. Both Bob and Eric were pleased and seemed impressed with SA.
Q. How many people attended the event?
A. More than 1,600!
Bravo to Jerry and his team; it sounds like both the Gala and video were a huge success! For a quick look into the world of arts, culture, and heritage throughout the Des Moines Metro this past year, check out our video below.
