Tucson has a number of arts groups doing interesting things. I was recently on a grants panel and I could easily see where struggle was occurring with a number of these groups. I could also see where one group had a strength, while another group had a weakness. For instance, one group had a great facility, but lacked a mission. While another group had a great mission, but would soon lose their facility.
Who is connecting these dots? No one. At a time of economic hardships, someone needs to examine these things. The Tucson Arts District Partnership is there to try to make these connections.
The upside to a difficult economy is that it makes creative people more creative. Get out of that comfort chair, and look for new combinations. Where old thinking no longer applies, new adventures can occur. New kinds of risk. New adrenalin can happen.
Many artists need space. Affordable space. Musicians need rehearsal space. Artists need studio space. Photographers need a community darkroom. Videographers need space. Graphic designers need space. Yet to be imagined arts people need space. Cuisine. Chickens. Bread. Lighting. Weaving. Sewing. Ceramics. Cinema. New combinations need to be sought out.
Tucson's arts groups need to seek out new combinations for themselves with each other, with commercial business, with new artistic components.
Let the arts breathe, and jump in the air, and shout!
David Aguirre
Tucson Arts District Partnership
Image: Pasqualina Azzarrello
