<< Back 6/12/02 Harrah’s contributes to ArtsFest SMN Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Hotel has contributed $25,000 as the major corporate sponsor of Western Carolina University’s inaugural CulloWHEE! ArtsFest, a new summer festival celebrating the fine and performing arts. The outdoor festival, set for Friday and Saturday, June 14 and 15, will feature national recording artists The Manhattan Transfer, David Sanborn, Joe Sample and Bio Ritmo, along with several other jazz performers from across the nation. The weekend festival also will include an exhibition and sale of fine art and crafts. “As one of the largest businesses in the area, we are very proud to sponsor the CulloWHEE! ArtsFest, which will not only serve as a venue to bring various artists and a ‘new’ art culture to the area, but also will bring in additional visitors. We recognize that we must all work together to make Western North Carolina a destination tourist attraction, which we know it can be, and we want to do our part toward that effort,” said Pat Dennehy, general manager of Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Hotel. “We have supported the university in many ways since opening, and we are supporting this event at a higher level because we feel it will grow into one of the more successful ventures in the region,” Dennehy said. “We also have many WCU graduates and part-time students working successfully in our business, so we already have a special bond with the university.” Establishing a major arts festival would be impossible without the support of such sponsors and partners as Harrah’s, Western Chancellor John Bardo said. “We could not do this alone,” Bardo said.“The generosity of our corporate sponsors, the assistance of area businesses that have made in-kind contributions of goods and services, and the cooperation of media partners that are helping spread the word are vital to the development of a festival of the magnitude we have envisioned.” With its focus on jazz, this year’s inaugural CulloWHEE! ArtsFest is the first of what is expected to become an annual series of cultural events designed to boost the region’s tourism industry while providing a chance for students and faculty in Western’s academic programs in the arts to share their talents. “The response we have gotten from sponsors, from area chambers of commerce, and from those in the travel and tourism business tells us that we are on the right track,” Bardo said. Sponsors of the CulloWHEE! ArtsFest include Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Hotel, Wachovia, Verizon Wireless, BB&T, Westcare Health System, Coca-Cola, Allison’s Chevrolet-Jeep, Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, Nantahala Outdoor Center, WLOS-TV, Asheville Citizen-Times, Mediacom, The Enterprise-Mountaineer, The Sylva Herald, WRGC-AM, WHLC-FM, Smoky Mountain News, Aramark, Bravo Events, SoHo Grill, JazzReview.com, Jackson County Chamber of Commerce and Jackson County Travel and Tourism Authority. Advance two-day tickets for the festival may be purchased at the Ramsey Center ticket office, online via Tickets.com (www.tickets.com) or toll-free at 888.332.5200. Children under age 13 are admitted free of charge with paying adult. Group and student discounts are available, and single-day passes may be purchased for either Friday or Saturday. Specially priced tickets also are available at the Cashiers Area, Franklin Area, Haywood County, Jackson County, Maggie Valley and Swain County chambers of commerce, and the 4 1/2 Street Inn in Highlands. For more information, contact Western Carolina’s Ramsey Center at 828.227.7722, or click on www.cullowheeartsfest.com.