App gives New Canaan tours via phone
NEW CANAAN — Numerous town entities are signing up to use an app to attract tourism and promote town culture.
Thanks to Otocast, an app being used be several organizations in town, visitors to sites such as the New Canaan Land Trust Sculpture Trail can hear artists talk about their inspirations behind their works of art.
Numerous nonprofits in town are using the platform, which is available free on Apple and Google Play stores, to draw people to New Canaan with the hope that people come to town to see the sights and patronize the local merchants.
When people use Otocast, GPS engages to select a tour list in the area. Each tour has a map with pins designating the local attractions, linked to various media including video, audio, pictures and text on the location.
“It’s a wonderful technology, when people become fluent in it,” Nancy Geary, executive director of the Museum and Historical Society, said. She believes the app can drive traffic to town and she hopes more organizations will sign up.
One tour called “New Canaan Arts and Culture” has pins for the Grace Farms Foundation, the Historical Society and the Glass House. Tapping on the pin, Historical Society users can watch video tours of the Little Red School House and Gores Pavilion, which are under the auspices of the organization.
“I would say, however, that the effectiveness of this tool may lie in the number of adjacent businesses and cultural institutions that sign up as well,” Executive Director of Glass House Greg Sages said. “We have other tools if a party wanted only ‘museums’ for instance.”
Land Trust Board Member Beth Sanford thought that perhaps Otocast had helped the Land Trust draw over 10,000 visitors to its properties in 2020. The sculpture trail was created two years ago by the Land Trust in partnership with the Carriage Barn Arts Center to celebrate Earth Day’s 50th anniversary.
“Outdoor exhibits became very popular during COVID,” Sanford said. To gauge interest in the exhibit, the Land Trust had interns view videos placed at various spots on the properties and count the number of people hiking the trails to experience the art in nature.
This year, Otocast offers narrations from the artists of 10 sculpture entries. Visitors can listen to the artists speak about their work or read about the artist and their background.
Organizations also place mission statements on their guided audio tours. For example, the Glass House tour features audio of Sages explaining the mission to preserve the 49-acre National Trust Historic Site that includes a collection of 20th century American art, architecture and design.”
Several towns in the area are represented on Otocast, including Westport, Greenwich and Ridgefield.
Each have one overarching tour that includes several locations and organizations in the town. Norwalk has five tours and New Canaan has three. In addition to the arts and culture tour, there is one for Waveny Park and another strictly for the Land Trust Sculpture Trail.