Arts Council Makes Push For "City of Arts and Innovation" Slogan

Will Winston-Salem's unofficial “City of Arts and Innovation” slogan finally become official? The Arts Council hopes so.

This week the city began accepting suggestions for a catch phrase that would appear under the state-issued “Welcome to Winston-Salem” signs on major roads and highways.

The move sparked confusion among some people who already thought “City of Arts and Innovation,” was the city slogan. It's a phrase that has been endorsed by the Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County and has been adopted by other groups. But the city's official slogan is “O! Winston-Salem Now that's living,” a moniker that the city adopted in 2001 but rarely uses.

Catherine Heitz New is the Arts Council's vice president for development. She says the organization has issued a call to action through its Web site, social media and 20,000-member email listserv. The Arts Council is asking people to vote in favor of the “City of Arts and Innovation” slogan. Heitz New says the slogan was released in 2009 after a yearlong collaborative campaign to find a defining phrase for the city. She says the slogan is working well and another one could cause confusion.

Evan Raleigh, an assistant to city manager Lee Garrity, says the search is open to both new slogans as well as existing ones. Submissions can be made through Friday, April 4. Raleigh says after that, it will be up to the city council to make it official.

Citizens can make suggestions for the slogan by calling the citizen feedback line at (336) 734-1400 or online at cityofws.org.