2009 Top 25 Arts Destinations

New York City, which was the No. 1 Big Cities arts destination in 2008, came in at No. 1 again with almost double the number of votes over second-place winner Chicago, which also held the No. 2 spot last year. And Washington, D.C., which placed third on the Big Cities list in 2008, is third again this year.

Read the American Style Magazine poll here and see how Alexandria, VA beats Miami, FL... okeedokie.

MFAs at MICA this Friday

Friday, April 24, from 5 to 7 PM is the last of the three Maryland Institute College of Art MFA thesis shows.

If you are in the Baltimore area, go see these shows.

The shows take place in the Fox Building, at MICA, 1300. W. Mt. Royal Ave, Baltimore, MD. Guaranteed are great art, good food and fun people! Artists include:

Amita Bhatt
Nina Glaser
Kat Rohrbacher
Katherine Mann
Scott Shanley
Karla Cott
Clarissa Gregory
Judy Stone
Pete Cullen
Alan Callander
Robby Rackleff
Emily Wathen
Sandy Triolo

Wanna go to an art lecture tonite?

An open $250,000 art prize

ArtPrize is a radically new open competition and perhaps the shape of things to come. It is open to any artist in the world who can find space in one of the exhibiting venues in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Open to a vote from anyone who attends.

It does cost $50 to participate. Registration ends July 31, 2009. Details here.

London Overtakes New York

In 2008, New York's auction market produced only $2.9 billion, down approximately 23 percent from a year ago and falling behind London, the new global leader in art auction sales.

Details here.

Meanwhile, some are predicting that as the economic slump continues, art collectors will be turning their attention more and more to the basics of art collecting and looking more closely at emerging artists and more affordable art.

That is the concept behind the international Affordable Art Fair, and the New York version of that fair takes place May 7-10 in New York City.

If you want to score a couple of free tickets to that fair, send me an email and I'll set you up.