Buffalo Culture: County plan is a framework waiting to be filled in

By Elmer Ploetz

Buffalo State University is only mentioned twice, in passing, in the Erie County Cultural Plan announced on Thursday at the university’s Rockwell Hall, and those are references to the Small Business Develpment Center at the college.

But it seemed clear when Erie County, City of Buffalo and university officials gathered to announce the initiative that Buffalo State is likely to be at the physical center of the plan. And it only seems logical.

I missed the start of the event due to an appointment set a year before, but when I left Thursday’s event I assumed that a Buffalo State facility (or more than one) was a part of the plan that had been announced before I got there. It seemed like an assumption throughout teh room.

Actually, it’s not in the 173-page aspirational opus (which you can read HERE), but it seems obvious that it should be. While the plan focuses on building and supporting the arts and culture sector as a whole, there is an argument for having a hub could be a huge help for smaller organizations and artists. The breakout sessions that followed were intended to get input on what that kind of hub would look like and what services it could offer.

It might have been putting the cart before the horse, but it seemed that part of why Buffalo State was the site of the announcement was that it is perfectly set up to be that hub.

A big part of it is that the university has the space. Like my employer (SUNY Fredonia), Buffalo State has about half as many students as it did at the peak of the Baby Boom Echo (the baby boomers’ grandkids) just over a decade ago. That means the college doesn’t need as many facilities as it did then, so the space could be available.

Location is obviously an advantage, close to the Burchfield Penney Art Center and the Buffalo AKG Art Museum and somewhat central within the city.

Likewise, despite the painful program cuts of the past few years, the university still has a strong set of arts and communication programs.

There are issues that might still need to be resolved; we’re not far removed from the mess last summer when the university strained its relationship with the Burchfield Penney by trying to remove its executive director Scott Propeack,

The Erie County Cultural Plan was produced by the Greater Buffalo Cultural Alliance and its Cultural Plan Steering Committee. The stated goal is to “embed arts and culture into broader civic priorities, including tourism, media and journalism, education, and economic development. It seeks to create an inclusive, resilient, and stronger cultural ecosystem that benefits residents and visitors alike.”

What does that actually mean? According to the speakers on Thursday, that could be many, many things. The idea isn’t simply government funding, but supplying a framework for businesses, nonprofits and government to collaborate in building our arts and culture community.

“The initiatives are intended to create opportunities for organizations, individuals, businesses and other groups to participate, contribute their expertise, and take ownership of the work that interests them,” said Mariely Ortiz, the Erie County senior planner working on the project.

Here’s the list of initiatives:

Needless to say, I’m particularly interested in Initiative No. 5.

There were a lot of good things being said Thursday. The plan is conceived as a partnership between Erie County and the City of Buffalo, and Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan’s comments were particularly encouraging, particularly when it comes to arts funding.

“One thing for sure is that as soon as things get tight in municipal government, the first thing to go is arts,” he siad. “But we have to think of arts as just one of Maslow’s human needs, and we wouldn’t think of cutting food. We wouldn’t think of cutting heating assistance. But boy, the pencil, usually with the eraser on it, goes to the arts budget first. So we’re going to get out of that trap.

“We want a city of Buffalo where every artist can start, where every artist can actually get their start, stay and continue to build careers. We want a city where cultural organizations can thrive, and every resident in every neighborhood can experience everything that our creative community has to offer.”

The question is HOW to do all of those things. And the Cultural Plan is a start.

Meanwhile, the list doesn’t specifically list creating a physical hub (and I’m still going through the rest of the 173 pages), but it seems like that’s one of the places this could be heading. It would be a great choice.