Get Involved: Arts Forum
What if...The Erie Canalway became the longest outdoor gallery in the nation?
 
The unique combination of arts, heritage, and landscape within the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor presents an exceptional opportunity for canal communities to come together to foster community pride, attract new visitors, and stimulate a creative economy through the arts.
 

A number of arts initiatives are already taking place, including:
 

• Art Walks on Water, Brockport
   
• Canaltown Studios and Art Trails, Jordan
   
• Mural Mania, Western and Central Erie Regions
   
• Art and Pottery Trails, Ithaca, Buffalo, Rochester, and Capital Region

 
Current Projects

• Inventory of the Arts and Cultural Destinations
   
  The New York Folklore Society was selected to conduct a targeted inventory of the arts in the Corridor. A team of folklorists and historians, as well as a photographer, visited Canalway Communities in 2009 to gather examples of the rich artistic and cultural expression inspired by and resulting from the development of the Corridor's historic canals.
   
  Data is being analyzed and results will be made available in 2010.
   
• Bringing Artists and Community Leaders Together
   
  The Erie Canalway Commission is working collaboratively with artists, communitiy leaders, and canal enthusiasts to investigate ways to use the arts to recognize the region's heritage and invite people to explore the 524-mile long canal system.
   
  An arts steering group, which emerged from an Arts Forum held in April 2008, is identifying and fostering promising initiatives, including:
  • Developing a 500 Mile Long Public Art "Gallery"
     
    
  • Creating and Linking Art Trails
     
  • Promoting Art Museums and Collections