Expert Services :: Culture Guides

What is a Culture Guide?
A Culture Guide is a robust, highly customized website that successfully promotes a region's arts and culture activities. For each city, the Culture Guide becomes the authoritative online cultural events calendar for residents and tourists alike, while collectively marketing the offerings of regional arts organizations, large and small. Culture Guides feature user-friendly tools that make them easy for non-technical staff to maintain.

Zero Defect Design produces Culture Guides for the following cities and regions:

ShreveportBossierFunGuide.com
The authoritative guide to museums, historical attractions, public art, sports and recreation on the Red River and throughout Northwest Louisiana.
Launched: May 2008
Sponsoring Organization: Shreveport Regional Arts Council
CultureCapital.com
CultureCapital offers a gateway to the world of arts and entertainment in the Greater Washington, DC region.
Launched: April 2008
Sponsoring Organization: Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington
NOLAFunGuide.com
This online guide to arts and entertainment in greater New Orleans is part of the city's cultural revitalization effort.
Launched: April 2007
Sponsoring Organization: The Arts Council of New Orleans
CharlotteCultureGuide.com
As the nation's second largest city in terms of arts-generated revenue, Charlotte, North Carolina relies on its Culture Guide to generate awareness of hundreds of local arts events, attractions, and classes.
Launched: February 2007
Sponsoring Organization: The Arts and Science Council
Harlem One Stop
HarlemOneStop.com provides visitors with a guide to the cultural treasures of Harlem and Upper Manhattan, along with a restaurant and lodging directory, a community blog, and its weekly Uptown! E-Newsletter.
Launched: June 2006
Sponsoring Organization: HarlemOneStop, a cultural tourism initiative of the Arts and Business Council
Many of the Culture Guide concepts were first deployed on PhillyFunGuide.com, which Zero Defect Design created in partnership with the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance in 2005.

How Does a Culture Guide Work?
Culture Guides are powerful, easy-to-use, and tailored to match each region's unique needs and aesthetic.

  • The Calendar of Events is searchable by date range, culture category (Dance, Jazz, Museums & Galleries, etc.) and neighborhood. Event detail pages include important information on each venue including directions and nearby restaurants.
  • A Directory of Arts and Culture Attractions is also browseable by category and neighborhood and provides important information about the attraction such as parking, admission rates, hours, and hosted events.
  • A smart Search feature allows visitors to quickly find specific events—for example: a family-friendly performance occurring this Friday night in the neighborhood near the visitor's hotel, within walking distance to a moderately priced restaurant!
  • Features spotlight special events and attractions such as festivals, city-wide seasonal events, and regional campaigns.
  • Site visitors can sign up for weekly E-mails that highlight upcoming events and offer special discounts.
  • A banner advertising system provides a source of revenue.

Virtually all content on the site can be self-managed by the city's arts or tourism group. Intuitive, user-friendly tools enable administrative users to set homepage content, edit text and images, create mailings, and manage banner advertising.

Please contact us if you'd like to discuss a Culture Guide for your region!