ArtsWave organizes the community to paint the street, which causes us to smile more.

These are people thinking big – like, a half-mile kinda big. Imagine creating a painting on a canvas equal to the square footage of a football field. Well ArtsWave did more than just imagine it – they organized it and made it happen. The organization’s mission is to help create the kind of thriving arts environment that makes the Cincinnati region a better place to live, work, play and stay. We saw this video at the recent TEDxCincy event earlier this month, but were just reminded of it again of its awesomeness when we got our weekly SoapBox newsletter.

On September 1, 1,500 people from neighborhoods all over the region gathered to paint a this half-mile of pavement not far from our office. Check out this time-lapse video for a minute and a half view of the 12 hour process. Thanks ArtsWave!

.

We’re helping local charitable organizations promote their causes for a fundraising event that’s near and dear to us, The Rusty Ball.

As the third annual Rusty Ball draws near, we’re helping to equip the 99 participating beneficiary groups with promotional materials they can use to urge ticket purchasers to select their group when buying tickets to the event. Starting October 6, 2010, those who purchase tickets at the website get to choose which group benefits from the proceeds of their purchase.

Openfield Creative became involved with The Rusty Ball at the ground level, donating our creative efforts as the marketing partner since the event’s inception in 2008. Now in its third year, The Rusty Ball is on course to sell out for a second consecutive year. In what’s becoming a tradition, we’ve once again created a customized poster for every organization involved.

It was fun to see the posters hanging around town from ice cream to auto body shops. But beyond the anecdotal evidence, compelling download stats from the 2009 show made it a must-do for the 2010 event. Plus, now we know how long it takes to export 99 custom PDFs – about 3 hours.

Ready to download yours?

2009 Rusty Ball Highlights:

• 91 charities involved
• 3,000 in attendance (sold out the Duke Energy Convention Center)
• $207,000 total revenue drummed up
• $48,000+ raised in silent and live auctions