At Ignite Baltimore 5, Brian Sacawa, a saxophonist and Peabody graduate, suggested that perhaps it was time for Baltimore to let go of its proudly held titles as a "quirky" and "weird" city.
Here's an excerpt:
"In my Ignite talk last week, I mentioned that I thought it was high time we move on here in Baltimore from defining ourselves to the outside world simply by the quirky and irreverent parts of the city's cultural life. I think those aspects are an important part of Baltimore's artistic identity, but that defining the city's arts scene with a strong and overbearing emphasis on the weird sends a message that we're not to be taken all that seriously.
Then I read Deborah Patterson's post on Open Society Institute-Baltimore's Audacious Ideas blog, in which she expressed indignation at the fact that Austin, with its "Keep Austin WEIRD" slogan-campaign, topped the list of Best Cities for Artists and Designers with Baltimore not even cracking the top 25. Yeah, seriously, like WTF?"
Read the entire post here. And tell us what you think.