By Mary Alice Murphy

At a session Tuesday evening, representatives of the Silver City Arts and Cultural District put on a public forum to report what processes they use to promote Silver City and Grant County.

Lee Gruber, SC ACD board president, introduced the speakers. "I also want to invite you to attend the monthly ACD Coordinating Council meetings, which are open to the public. It is so exciting to see all the groups sitting together to support each other with such enthusiasm and to collaborate on events in the area."

When Gruber introduced Callie Kennington, recently chosen ACD executive director, she said: "Callie brings new eyes to our community."

Kennington said she has held the position for about a month. "It's great and busy. It's wonderful working with a great group of women."

"I am personally embarking on the journey to go through the 101 Things to Do in Silver City," she said. "I'm a permanent visitor, showing how much there is to do and how much we have to offer to tourists. Use my hashtag #Callie101 to connect. I'm posting photos to my Facebook page. If you want to join me use #SilverCity101."

She introduced the district's new Americorps volunteer, Christy Curd, who is working on the planning for Continental Divide Trail Days April 15-17.

The next speaker was Jessie Thetford, who does social media for the organization. "I'm not a social media guru, but I've been learning by experimentation. Social media has truly become part of my daily life. My grandmother is on Facebook, but I use it, too, for business. You can find incredible free resources."

She said social media is a place to create, share or communicate interests. "We use Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest for the Arts and Cultural District. We use Facebook the most. It's the largest platform with 1.55 billion users worldwide. Go to facebook.com/VisitSilverCity and join in with your experiences. We have 6,500 people who are fans of our community. Facebook is one of the easiest ways to interact, put up videos, or see ads."

"Instagram is like a living photo album, where you can also upload videos," Thetford said. "You have to have consistent branding across the different social media platforms.

"Pinterest is an inspiring pin board to visually bookmark what you're interested in," she continued. "In addition to recipes, we love the travel opportunities. It's a way to invite people to Silver City.

"We are reaching an incredible following in Albuquerque; Tucson, Mesa and Phoenix, Arizona; and El Paso, Texas," Thetford said. "We also have an international audience. The Visitor Center sees people coming from all over the world. There is international interest in our community. Social media makes it easy to engage with and connect with anyone anywhere."

She explained psychographics. "I went to a hospitality and tourism conference in Santa Fe. So much of what we do in tourism is not targeting certain age groups, but we're going for attitude. It's cross-generational. New Mexico draws the adventuresome traveler."

"We are not limiting our focus to age, but on what you loveG