Press Releases

Marcus® Hotels & Resorts Expands Successful Artist-in-Residence Program

Company’s support of the arts gaining recognition

MILWAUKEE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Marcus® Hotels & Resorts, a division of The Marcus Corporation (NYSE: MCS), is proud to announce the expansion of its successful Artist-in-Residence program to other properties in its portfolio. The program, originally introduced at The Pfister® Hotel in Milwaukee, Wis., has been expanded to the company’s Hotel Phillips in Kansas City, Mo. and the Skirvin Hilton in Oklahoma City, Okla.

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The Artist-in-Residence program was launched in 2009 at The Pfister Hotel to support the work of talented artists and to generate awareness of the arts community in Milwaukee. The Pfister Hotel, acclaimed for housing the largest Victorian art collection of its kind in any U.S. hotel, developed the program to establish itself as a destination hotel for art connoisseurs by offering guests the opportunity to view artwork being created in real time by talented artists.

The excellent guest response to the program at The Pfister led to expanding the program to two other company-owned historic properties this year. The programs at The Pfister and Skirvin Hilton feature a working art studio and gallery open to hotel guests and visitors. At the Hotel Phillips, the featured artist roams the hotel with sketch pad in hand to capture events and daily activities to share with visitors and residents alike. Guests can interact with the selected artists at each property and witness the evolution of their pieces firsthand. Each year, a new artist is selected from a variety of applicants. The selected artist works in the hotel for a full year creating artwork for guests to enjoy and purchase.

“The Marcus Corporation has always been a strong supporter of the arts community and arts organizations such as the United Performing Arts Fund (UPAF) in Southeastern Wisconsin, the Creative Alliance Milwaukee, the international Alliance of Artists Communities, the Paseo Arts Association and others. We are very proud that our Artist-in-Residence program has become well-known both locally and nationally,” said Gregory S. Marcus, president and chief executive officer of The Marcus Corporation. “Our guests have the opportunity to interact with the artists and learn about different art styles, techniques and philosophies. Our artists in residence have the opportunity to showcase their talents and further develop their careers. The program is a win-win for everyone involved.”

The Artist-in-Residence program at The Pfister has received national attention and recently received a “Social Hotel Award” from HOTELS Magazine, a leading hotel industry publication in the category of “Best Integrated Digital Campaign.” Last year, the hotel received more than 3,500 votes for the finalists through combined digital and traditional methods, more than 10,000 visits to the program’s Facebook voting tab and more than 1,600 referrals from The Pfister Hotel website.

“We are extremely proud of the success of our Artist-in-Residence program. From our first opening in April 2009 during Milwaukee’s Gallery Night, the program has continued to gain local and national support,” said Joe Kurth, general manager of The Pfister Hotel. “It is a wonderful feeling to see the program extend to several of our other properties and it will be exciting to watch the program continue to flourish in other markets.”

Previous artists at The Pfister include Reginald Baylor, Shelby Keefe, Katie Musolff and, most recently, Timothy Westbrook. Trey Bryan was the first artist to be selected as part of the program at the Hotel Phillips in June and Romy Owens was recently selected as the first artist in residence at the Skirvin Hilton hotel.

To view the work of current and past artists, please visit: Timothy Westbrook (http://blog.thepfisterhotel.com/tag/timothy-westbrook), Shelby Keefe (http://www.studioshelby.com), Katie Musolff (http://www.katiemusolff.com), Reginald Baylor (http://www.reginaldbaylor.com), Trey Bryan (http://treybryan.carbonmade.com) and Romy Owens (http://romyowens.com/#welcome).

For more information on these Artist-in-Residence programs, please visit:

Pfister Hotel: http://www.thepfisterhotel.com/artist-in-residence/

Skirvin Hilton: http://www.skirvinhilton.com/artist-in-residence/index.asp

Hotel Phillips: http://www.hotelphillips.com/

For photos of the artists, please visit http://media.marcushotels.com.

About Marcus Hotels & Resorts

Marcus Hotels & Resorts, a division of The Marcus Corporation (NYSE: MCS), owns and/or manages 20 hotels, resorts and other properties in 11 states. A force in the hospitality industry, Marcus Hotels & Resorts provides expertise in management, development and historic renovations. The company’s portfolio includes a wide variety of properties including city-center meeting hotels, upscale resorts and branded first-class hotels. For more information on the latest news and updates, please visit: http://media.marcushotels.com and follow the company on Facebook and Twitter (@MarcusHotels).

About The Marcus Corporation

Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., The Marcus Corporation is a leader in the lodging and entertainment industries, with significant company-owned real estate assets. In addition to its Marcus Hotels & Resorts division, the company’s movie theatre division, Marcus Theatres®, is the sixth largest theatre circuit in the United States and currently owns or operates 695 screens at 56 locations in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and Ohio. For more information, visit the company’s web site at www.marcuscorp.com.

Certain matters discussed in this press release are “forward-looking statements” intended to qualify for the safe harbors from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements may generally be identified as such because the context of such statements include words such as we “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect” or words of similar import. Similarly, statements that describe our future plans, objectives or goals are also forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties which may cause results to differ materially from those expected, including, but not limited to, the following: (1) the availability, in terms of both quantity and audience appeal, of motion pictures for our theatre division, as well as other industry dynamics such as the maintenance of a suitable window between the date such motion pictures are released in theatres and the date they are released to other distribution channels; (2) the effects of increasing depreciation expenses, reduced operating profits during major property renovations, and preopening and start-up costs due to the capital intensive nature of our businesses; (3) the effects of adverse economic conditions in our markets, particularly with respect to our hotels and resorts division; (4) the effects of adverse weather conditions, particularly during the winter in the Midwest and in our other markets; (5) the effects on our occupancy and room rates of the relative industry supply of available rooms at comparable lodging facilities in our markets; (6) the effects of competitive conditions in our markets; (7) our ability to identify properties to acquire, develop and/or manage and the continuing availability of funds for such development; and (8) the adverse impact on business and consumer spending on travel, leisure and entertainment resulting from terrorist attacks in the United States or incidents such as the recent tragedy in a movie theatre in Colorado. Shareholders, potential investors and other readers are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements made herein are made only as of the date of this press release and we undertake no obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

for The Marcus Corporation
Media:
Jessica Vollrath, 414-221-0218
jvollrath@vollrathpr.com

Source: The Marcus Corporation