Sunday, September 11, 2005

Tough Love for the Arts

One of Pittsburgh Mayor Murphy's big pushes is to finish the Steel City's bike trails - will that mean fewer visitors to Venango's trails?


They may be corny (I'm sorry, I just couldn't help it) but the area's fall big scale mazes definitely count as both art and culture to me...
Salt Lake is asking its residents a question that I think our region should consider, "How should local arts be covered?" I remember a few months ago picking up an Erie Times News review of a play that the reviewer just ripped apart. At first, I was taken aback, but then I thought, yeah, this is what local arts really needs. There isn't a real fine line between supporting and enabling, but what I see and hear is a lot of enabling and no criticism at all. I tend to be pretty glowing here in the blog, but I'm really selective about what I go to see - I don't go to something if it doesnÂ’t interest me, or if it has a bad vibe about it, so I'm not trying to set myself up as a critic - of anything really - much more of a fan - but I don't think I've ever been to a show, for instance, at the Barrow Civic Main Theatre that didn't get a standing ovation. Really? I mean, they've all been great? I'd like to see some of the arts commentary community develop some teeth around here and I'd like to see the community itself grow to a point where such criticism can be accepted and utilized.

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