When I woke up this morning one of the first things I found in my inbox was a link to the Press Release the Worcester Cultural Coalition dumped on my soul today. Duncan did a fine job explaining what he feels is wrong with this kind of event and the crowd it caters too; now I want you to actually see what's wrong with it.

Around noon my friend Tina Zlody invited me to stop by the Traina Center at Clark University for the opening of the Senior Thesis art gallery. After four years of what I can only imagine is mind bending instruction in art history, methodology and development, the seniors have their work on display for their family, friends and the city to see. Four long years spent in Worcester developing your self as an artist. Four years. Funny, I didn't recognize any of them? I ran into a few familiar faces in the form of fellow residents, but as far as the students were concerned, they were all strangers. Now we all know what its like to live in this big town, everyone is an extra in the movie of your life to some degree. How does someone who thinks he knows everyone suddenly become a stranger in his own city? Well I got over that quick, and once I started poking around found myself pretty much astonished at the quality of the work. Usually I look at college level art and see allot of misdirected emotions that seem forced; well Clark either has a bunch of pros on their hands, or those property tax breaks really paid off in the form of a better education. Which brings me one step closer to my point, we as residents of Worcester can safely feel some sense of pride in the Students at Clark. We decided that we would cut the school a break in its tax bill because it acts as a good neighbor and partner to the city and in turn uses the extra cash for development. This was partly my gallery opening, kind of made me proud.

The pride broke pretty quick though. Through Tina and from talking to a few of the students first hand, I heard something that I already believed to be the case but hated having to face. The class of 2005, much like its predecessors won't be staying for dinner. Once those graduation caps start having to deal with the forces of gravity, these talented, creative people will pack up their lives and move off to places that will better cater to their goals. Some will go back home, some will go to cities like Providence, Baltimore and NY to further develop their craft. Few will become Worcesterites. Of course there are exceptions, Clark was kind enough to leave us with Steve Mossberg but how many of his fellow alumni stuck around? So most of us never got to know these cats while they were here; and most of us won't even notice when they're gone.

I spoke briefly with Erin Williams, head of the Worcester Cultural Commission a few months ago about the need to keep students like these living in Worcester. And although she agreed it was important, her feeling was that we need to focus on developing business that will employ these recent graduates opposed to making sure they have something interesting to do while they're here. Hold on; are you the City Manager or the Cultural Commish? Their art IS their business! And if we can convince them to stay here to work on it opposed to Williamsburg, we have the foundation of every vibrant city. Business, education, commerce; they all feed from cultural endeavors. And it can't just be overly accessible or high brow culture. It needs to be real, fluid; the way you can feel Providence is alive. The city is its culture.

So why as a city are we still investing any amount of time and money into the same old stale, All American City, puritanical dog and pony shows to entertain