Business of Art, Part II

Thursday night, I left watching the very depressing mayoral debate on tv to go to the "Business of Art" panel discussion at Pearl Street. This was an incredibly refreshing look at the future of Buffalo. We pretty much were not talking politics; we were talking becoming an activist arts community, to start making noise. Celeste Lawson, a panelist as well as the head of the Erie County Arts Council, said that we need to "build the momentum to cherish what we have." This city does have a lot. Artists have cheap housing and studio space. I had an artist from NYC (ex from Bflo) up to my studio space at the Buffalo Arts Studio; the price that she told me the spaces like that would go for in NYC would be a couple of months apartment rent in Buffalo. The Buffalo resident has amazing archetecture, galleries whose numbers seem to grow by the week and an internationally recognized art gallery, The Albright-Knox, that now offers free Friday nights, with plenty to do for the kids. Art could, and will, be a way of life here in Buffalo......