Greetings from Madison

Thanks to Joe Nickell for getting us off to a great start yesterday and introducing the theme of this collaborative blog: arts and arts journalism outside of the major metros.

I'll be weighing in from Madison, Wis., a city of about 225,000 best known as the home of the flagship campus in the University of Wisconsin system. As a laid-back college town and also the state capital, Madison has its share of charms and frustrations, some of which I'll explore here over the coming weeks.

By day, I manage Wisconsin's statewide, nonprofit cultural Web site, Portalwisconsin.org, a project of the Cultural Coalition of Wisconsin. As an arts writer, I contribute regularly to Isthmus, Madison's alternative weekly, and other publications. While my academic background is in art history--and visual art remains my first love--I write about theater and books in addition to visual art.

My fellow bloggers and I share the belief that living in a smaller community does not necessarily doom one to a lesser cultural life in terms of quality or quantity. There's more happening in Madison than I would ever have the time to get to and an authentic local culture of which we can be proud. We Flyover bloggers look forward to sharing our local cultures with you and hope you'll join the discussion.