The Scottsdale City Council can be a feisty group. Sometimes they disagree just to be disagreeable. Other times genuine philosophical divides arise. That’s why it’s so refreshing when the council unanimously confers and consents to wise policy. The recent decision to alleviate local art galleries from taxing out of state sales is a case in point. After all, it is oxymoronic to encourage people to visit Scottsdale’s arts scene only to tax them more onerously than peer markets.
Later this year Scottsdale leaders will again have another opportunity to send a strong message in support of local arts. The Scottsdale Gallery Association is expected to make a pitch for local tourism tax funds to revitalize Thursday Night Art Walks. Once upon these were grand city traditions. An excuse for first dates, or an anniversary stroll. For serious art eyes, or the more casual. A boost for local restaurants. A cause for downtown. More recently, however, said environs on Thursdays have become a more hollow shell of former selves.
Better promoting art walks is a request with merit, and deserving of support. Combined with the City Council’s previous patronage of the Museum of the West and more recently an expanded Canal Convergence, Scottsdale decision-makers are smartly doing what they can to get the local arts scene back to a more picture perfect place.