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84th Edition

✍🏽 This Week on Landon in the Loop:

🎫 How Illinois is Boosting Tourism Revenue

📊 Chart of the Week

📆 Events Around the City

🔙 Previous Newsletter Editions

🔙 Highlights from Last Week

On Wednesday, we hosted our first AI Tinkerers Columbus meetup at the Drive HQ in partnership with Ohio State University. 👇🏽

On Thursday, we hosted a Healthcare Hackathon, bringing together Chicago healthcare founders and operators to discuss the industry’s toughest challenges.👇🏽

On Thursday, we hosted a private room dinner for our Chicago pre-seed founders.👇🏽

🎫 How Illinois is Boosting Tourism Revenue

Illinois is ramping up its tourism efforts with new funding through two new grant programs.

These initiatives are designed to enhance existing attractions, develop new sites, and support events and festivals that drive economic growth across our state.

Let’s take a look:

Improving our Infrastructure

• $1.7m has been allocated to improve tourism attractions across Illinois, aiming to enhance the state's appeal and drive economic growth.

• The purpose is to improve museums, amusement parks, and recreational areas to attract more visitors.

• Eligible entities can apply for grants between $15,000 and $200,000, with a 1:1 match requirement.

New Events and Festivals

• $600,000 has been designated to develop new or enhanced events and festivals that attract visitors to Illinois and promote local communities.

• Non-profits, government entities, for-profits, and local promotional groups are eligible for this specific grant, which can cover marketing, event logistics, entertainment, and other promotional efforts.

• The goal is to stimulate tourism and local economies by bringing new events and festivals to the state.

The Economic Growth Behind Tourism

• Illinois reached its highest-ever hotel revenue of $308m in FY23, surpassing pre-pandemic levels, while 111m visitors spent $44B in 2022.

• The Illinois Office of Tourism's campaign drove 2m additional trips and $1B in spending across hotels, restaurants, and attractions since 2022. 👇🏽

• For every dollar spent on the campaign, Illinois saw $91 in visitor spending and generated $10 in state and local tax revenue.

Navigating the Application

Both programs use a competitive Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to select grantees. All applications must be submitted by December 20, 2024, at 5:00 p.m.

📊 Chart of the Week

Chicago's electricity prices continue to trend lower than the national average.

This is thanks to our diverse energy portfolio.

📆 Events Around the City

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Now for this week’s events 👇🏽

The Brave New World of Data and AI - A Fireside Chat for VC and Startup Leaders with Databricks

• Monday

• RSVP

Chicago Data Night 🚙 

• Hosted by Drive Capital and UChicago

• Tuesday

• RSVP

Archna & Jori's Product Leaders Breakfast

• Tuesday

• RSVP

SaaS Brass Chicago Launch!

• Thursday

• RSVP

Building Chicago AI Connections: Elevate Your Pitch & Build Community

• Thursday

• RSVP

XYZ LIVE TAPING FT. POOL HALL

• Thursday

• RSVP

Chicago Innovation Awards

• Thursday

• RSVP

Customer Support Leaders Network - Chicago

• Friday

• RSVP

🗞 Previous Newsletter Editions:

#83 - Chicago's Q3 VC Scene

#82 - Building Chicago’s Top AI Meetup

#81 - Small Modular Reactors in Illinois

#80 - Neoclouds in Chicago

👋 See you next week!

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