I love to hear what other cities think about Buffalo, especially when they've just been spanked. Someone passed along a link to the East Valley Tribune - Mesa, AZ this morning where I found an interesting article. The gist of the piece appears to be a mixture of lament and shock that Scottsdale came in second behind Buffalo as the 'Number 1 Arts Destination for Mid-Sized Cities'. Yeah, I know that the result is based on a reader’s poll, which makes the following article even more amusing. There are some fun quotes in the article from the owners of the Duley-Jones Gallery (in Scottsdale). I checked out the gallery's webpage to see what sort of art they were peddling - not bad if you like a "dazzling array of contemporary artwork". But I'll take Anderson Gallery over Duley-Jones any day.
Anyways, I was just going to pull a quote/excerpt from the East Valley Tribune's article, but I couldn't decide which one I liked best... so here's most of the article:
Scottsdale, which last year readers of AmericanStyle magazine named fourth best arts destination among mid-sized U.S. cities - after highest-ranked cultural meccas Pittsburgh, Albuquerque, N.M., and Las Vegas - has moved up a couple of notches.
When the publication, which defines itself as "the national arts lifestyle magazine for art enthusiasts, collectors and travelers," repeated the readers' poll this year, Scottsdale came out second best.
Behind Buffalo, N.Y.
Randy Jones, co-owner of Scottsdale's Duley-Jones Gallery, was speechless at first and then roared with laughter when he heard about the city's rise in the art magazine's esteem.
"I've never been to Buffalo and never seen their arts scene," Jones said after he composed himself. "I'm shocked."
Fellow gallery owner Vicki Boyce, of Victoria Boyce Gallery, was equally amused. "We've really fallen on tough times if we're behind Buffalo," she said. Boyce admitted that Buffalo's Albright-Knox Art Gallery, which recently announced plans for an expansion, is "one of the best small museums in the country," and a $16 million project to develop 60 working artist lofts is impressive.
Still, she was amazed that Scottsdale's expansive cultural offerings would take a back seat to those of the frozen municipality on Lake Erie, more renowned for measuring snowfall in feet than having a flourishing arts scene.
AmericanStyle editors were also surprised by Buffalo's astounding leap from 14th in the 2007 poll to first, said Jean Thompson, spokeswoman for the publication.
"But this is a readers poll, and the results depend on the enthusiasm from the community," Thompson said. "The Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Arts Council put out the word, and enthusiasm and intensity was extremely high from Buffalo."
The AmericanStyle poll is aimed at helping tourists who choose vacation destinations based on cultural offerings, figure out where to go, Thompson said.