One good indicator of the ongoing vitality of the arts and cultural scene in the Valley is the challenge Al Ross faces trying to keep his weekly Wisconsin Public Radio show, Spectrum West, down to one hour. “I love what’s going on in this part of Wisconsin because it just keeps throwing stuff at us,” he says. “There is no excuse for not finding something you’ll enjoy.” Now entering his fifth year as host of the music, arts, and humanities program, Ross says his perception is that the volume of cultural activity here continues to grow.

Inasmuch as artistic activity can be quantified, Ross seems to be right: In the past year, most available culture-related statistics ticked upward, from the number of concerts, plays, and other public performances at the State Theatre to the number of entries to ArtsWest (the annual juried art show at the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library) to the number of Chippewa Valley Museum visitors. And a couple of the region’s most positive, headline-grabbing moments of the past year fell in this category, too: The announcement of the Confluence Project and Bon Iver’s double victory at last year’s Grammy Awards. The region also is home to state poet laureate Max Garland, New York Times bestselling author Mike Perry, and countless other writers, artists, and musicians. 

“I shouldn’t say that we’re overloaded, but we’re overloaded in a good way. Sometimes we don’t know which way to turn our heads.”
-- Al Ross, host, Wisconsin Public Radio's
"Spectrum West"

“It’s not all big stuff,” Ross adds. “It’s not all things that take a lot of time to put on. It could just be someone who’s writing really good poetry. It could be someone who’s singing songs and wants to do it in public.” Both the big and the small events make their way into this magazine’s calendar, the online version of which boasted 4,268 separate listings in 2012. Arts professionals laud the variety of cultural opportunities on tap, from the Sculpture Tour Eau Claire to the Banbury Art Crawl to big-name touring performers (including LeAnn Rimes, Tracy Morgan, Arlo Guthrie, and David Sedaris) at the State Theatre. However, not everything is perfect. Anecdotally, at least, attendance is dropping for some local music events, and many residents still don’t take advantage of cultural activities.

All this is going on while a less-than-stellar economy has limited arts funding. “We’re in a good time right now, even though it feels like a bad time because every penny counts,” adds Ben Richgruber, executive director of the Eau Claire Regional Arts Center.