By Colin Dabkowski

There’s no question that the arts and culture made a boatload of progress in 2011.

There’s more solidarity among organizations large and small, a new sense of optimism about culture’s role in shaping the future of the region and, not least, a new county executive who seems to understand why public investments in the arts make sense.

But Buffalo, despite significant recent forays onto the national stage over the past year, retains its whacked-out perception as a cultural backwater.

And though our museums, galleries and theaters are on the right track, they’ve got a long way to go before their work will gain the recognition it deserves.

To that end, here are a few wish-list items — some realistic, others fantastical — for the coming year:

•A new director at the Burchfield Penney Art Center who will help guide the institution with the same boldness of vision, energy and intelligence with which Louis Grachos has led the Albright-Knox Art Gallery across the street. Since the retirement of Ted Pietrzak in 2009, the institution has been doing fine, but each passing month with no director is a month of potential progress lost. Though the institution’s community impact is significant, its national exposure isn’t close to where it needs to be. A gifted new director will not only help to get it there, but to lead and shape the bona fide cultural movement that formed during the recent funding crisis.

•The reopening and rebranding of the former Studio Arena Theatre building, a 610-seat jewel in the barely beating heart of Buffalo’s Theater District. Back in September, Shea’s CEO Anthony Conte announced that the last of five local banks relinquished their claims on the property, which clears the path for Shea’s to rent the theater to touring groups and local companies. A locally produced, collaborative show for Curtain Up! that meets the standards of Studio Arena when it was at its best is possible. Let’s make it happen.

•A city government that follows the example of County Executive Mark Poloncarz in understanding and promoting the role of culture in the future economic growth of the region. Mayor Byron Brown’s relative lack of interest in the subject (aside from his recent agreement to dole out some money to cultural groups) has been lackluster at best. With Erie County on board with the arts, it would be great to see the city follow suit.

•A better cross-cultural exchange between Buffalo and Toronto that feeds on a shared desire to feed on one another’s strengths. Gerry Trentham’s “The Four Mad Humors,” which linked dancers in Buffalo and Toronto by live video feed, was a step in the right direction. But it would be great to see regular exhibitions of Buffalo artists in Toronto galleries or productions exported from our theater scene to theirs — and vice versa. We may get some help in that regard from the merger of WBFO and WNED, which may extend to the establishment of a Canadian news bureau and more regional news stories. Let’s all pretend the border doesn’t exist.

•More collaboration on the theater scene and a stronger, more relevant Theatre Alliance of Buffalo. In 2010, visual arts groups launched their largest effort yet to draw people from outside the region to explore the region’s galleries and museums. Though programmatic collaboration in theater is much more difficult, it would be great to see the theaters come together under the Alliance umbrella to launch a real effort — one that goes far beyond a one-shot, one-day event — to draw attention and bodies from outside the region.

http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainment/gusto/music/concert-previews/article697379.ece

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