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For Immediate Release:
February 3, 2012
Contact:
Erich Weyant (ECHDC) |
eweyant@esd.ny.gov | 716.846.8258
ECHDC Seeks Programming for the Buffalo River
Agency seeks to activate the existing features, public spaces
and water along the Buffalo River The Erie Canal Harbor
Development Corporation (ECHDC) today announced its first steps for
activating the Buffalo River corridor. The agency is seeking a
Program Coordinator to solicit proposals from organizations and
groups interested in holding an event or series of events along the
Buffalo River. Proposals will be evaluated by ECHDC staff and the
citizen-volunteers who sit on the Buffalo River steering group,
under the leadership of ECHDC board member Julie Barrett O’Neill.
The River steering group was initiated in late 2010 as part of
ECHDC’s mission to revitalize Buffalo’s waterfront, and is comprised
of a variety of stakeholders from the River corridor. These
stakeholders were asked to join the steering group in recognition of
their efforts to redevelop and remediate the Buffalo River and to
provide more public gathering and access points.
“The Buffalo River is about connection,” said ECHDC board member
Barrett O’Neill. “The river is the physical connection between the
exciting changes taking place on the Outer Harbor and the burgeoning
Canalside district on the Inner Harbor. It is the social connection
for the First Ward and the Valley, communities that are home to
numerous businesses, social organizations and neighborhoods. Its
grain elevators connect us with Buffalo’s great industrial heritage.
Most importantly, the water and banks of the river itself allow us
to connect directly with the environment and to discover that
Buffalo is a great place for outdoor recreation. Our goal is to
support and augment the existing infrastructure and programming
occurring along the river, knitting them together and connecting
them to the Outer Harbor and Canalside, further energizing the
entire waterfront.”
The coordinator will be required to solicit programming proposals
and present the results of the solicitation with recommendations to
ECHDC. The programming season will run from May 1 through November
1. Programming, defined as any one‐time or regularly‐scheduled
activity or event, performance, concert, festival or social
gathering, will be limited to Buffalo River. The coordinator will be
responsible for administering a minimum of 30 events.
Organizations interested in submitting proposals should be
established and have demonstrated experience in effective outreach
and event coordination as well as knowledge of Buffalo’s market for
urban and outdoor programming, in particular waterfront and/or
waterside programming.
Full details regarding this RFP are available
here.
Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation is a subsidiary agency of
Empire State Development, whose vision is to revitalize Western New
York’s waterfront and restore economic growth to Buffalo based on
the region’s legacy of pride, urban significance and natural beauty. |
