Saturday, December 13, 2008

Viva Local Art

Wishing Tucson Artists Colony much success on the opening tonight. A wonderful addition to our local arts scene.

I was around in the 1970s for the first baby steps of downtown Brooklyn's revitalization -- the local arts community back then was at the core of that revival, working together with independent businesses. And so it is here in Tucson. Tucson Artists Colony is enriching an interesting office/business/artist complex called Placita de la Luna nearby Oracle and Grant. The complex has sustainable features (like water harvesting) as well as professional spaces.

Don't want to sound like an old sage but in the 1970s Brooklyn faced pretty miserable economic times. Plenty of empty storefronts, a lot of negative people sayings the revival wouldn't work. And now look at downtown Brooklyn - million dollar rents; chi chi Williamsburg and Dumbo, people begging to live down there.

Hang in there Tucson. Keep the innovative ideas coming. Government officials, be wise in your decisions. Developers, think sustainability and infill. We can make the magic that happened in Brooklyn happen in our city, too.

1 comment:

Susan said...

We are so glad you and Leigh were able to stop by. It meant a lot to us. We have big dreams and I can see beautiful things happening for us together with the downtown art community.