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Sponsorship Marketing Group, LLC
Selected as Sponsorship Agency by
Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
in Bethel, New York

Bethel Woods Center for the Arts is located on the site of the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival

Bethel, NY, March 26, 2012 – Sponsorship Marketing Group, LLC (WAM) today announced that it has been selected by Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, New York, to act as its sponsorship marketing agency. WAM was selected for this assignment based on extensive related experience in securing venue naming rights agreements for performing arts organizations across the US and Canada, as well as its significant background in successfully procuring sponsors for concert presentations.

A Culturally Significant Site - The Woodstock Music Festival was held from August 15 to August 18, 1969 at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills in the town of Bethel, New York.  The 1969 Festival featured thirty-two acts performed outdoors in front of 500,000 concert-goers, including such luminaries as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, The Grateful Dead, The Who, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.  The Festival is widely regarded as a pivotal moment in popular music history.   Rolling Stone called it one of the 50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock and Roll.  As one of the biggest rock festivals of all time and a cultural touchstone for the late sixties, Woodstock has been referenced in many different ways in popular culture. The phrase "the Woodstock generation" became part of the common lexicon. Contemporary culture continues to remember Woodstock, with Time magazine naming "The Who at Woodstock – 1969" to the magazine's "Top 10 Music-Festival Moments" list on March 18, 2010

A Major Cultural Attraction Today - In 1984 a plaque was placed at the original site commemorating the Woodstock Festival. The original field and the stage area remain preserved in their rural setting. A concert pavilion has been erected on the hill, and the fields of the old Yasgur farm are still visited by people of all generations.  In 1997, the site of the Festival along with 1,400 surrounding acres was purchased for the purpose of creating the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. The Center opened on July 1, 2006, with a performance of the New York Philharmonic. On August 13, 2006, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young performed to 16,000 fans at the new Center — 37 years after their historic performance at Woodstock.  The Museum at Bethel Woods opened in June 2008. The Museum contains film and interactive displays, text panels, and artifacts which explore the unique experience of the Woodstock festival, its significance as the culminating event of a decade of radical cultural transformation, and the legacy of the Sixties and Woodstock today.

Concert Presentations – A diverse and exciting line-up of about 20 world-class performances is presented each season representing the best of rock, country, pop, jazz, and classical music.  Capacity of the amphitheater is 15,000 seats, with a variety of seating available ranging from VIP to lawn seating.   The 2012 season presentations will range from the Dave Matthews Band,  Ringo Starr, Brad Paisley, Lady Antebellum and The Beach Boys, through to the New York Philharmonic (complete with fireworks!).  A number of educational programs are offered to students, including social history and music programs.  The music program offers one or more participants the opportunity to appear on-stage at Bethel Woods with a featured artist.

The Opportunities - We would like to invite selected companies to become official sponsors at Bethel Woods.  Naming rights opportunities are also available for the concert pavilion, the museum, and other site elements.  Concert and event-related sponsorships are also available.  Sponsors will receive a customized set of benefits according to their level of participation.   These can include:

• Exclusive ticketing offers 
• VIP concierge on-site
• Dedicated business/product integration
• Product demonstration, sampling, product trial
• Brand profile in advertising and marketing materials, on the Bethel Woods website, and on exterior and interior signage at the venue;
• Unique client hosting opportunities
• Complimentary use of space at the venue for meetings, product launches, receptions etc.;
• Promotional rights
• Employee engagement programs
• Data base capture
• Pass-through rights

“We look forward to working with a select group of core sponsors to develop a meaningful, ownable property within the context of Bethel Woods that will deliver on the sponsor’s marketing objectives, with high-impact and proprietary activation opportunities”, said Hugh Wakeham, President of WAM. 

For further information contact:
Hugh Wakeham
416-593-0040 x 235
E: hugh@wam.ca