BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — The newly designed Buffalo AKG Art Museum was a major investment of $230 million, but it is expected to attract art tourists from around the globe to help boost our local economy.
“And for this to be a brand new and grand opening — it’s a beautiful thing in regards to bringing money back to our area,” remarked Lisa Thagard, Buffalo resident.
Thagard calls herself an “art lover”. She was among the many invited guests invited for a ribbon cutting and grand opening of the AKG museum Monday.
The redesign has doubled the space of the art museum's collection which is one of the most extensive collections of contemporary art in the world reaching the entire world, making it very attractive to art tourists.
Taking in our arts, culture, and architecture is the number one activity when visiting Buffalo.
“A lot of people think it's going to Niagara Falls, actually, it's not the purpose of a trip truly is our arts and culture, our architecture, followed by food, outdoor recreation, and shopping, obviously. so this really just will elevate all of that,” explained Patrick Kaler, president, and CEO, Visit Buffalo Niagara.
Kaler tells me the new AKG is a “game changer”.
Art tourism is expected to have a big economic impact on Buffalo, but who exactly is going to come to this new museum?
"It’s for that leisure visitor, both domestically and internationally. We also use it for group tours as well, both domestically and internationally, but also event space, so for meetings and conventions to utilize the space for activities, venues, welcome receptions, or just spouse tours as well. We're able to really utilize the Buffalo AKG on many different levels for visitor interaction,” Kaler described.
“So you can attract people who maybe buffalo would have been off of their radar before, but then they start going wait this is exciting,” noted Laura Worth, luxury travel adviser.
Worth is a luxury travel adviser who works with art tourists. She says there are plenty of big names at the AKG to bring new visitors to Buffalo.
“When people come to me looking to do an art trip, honestly, the age range is so broad — you have people who are interested in contemporary, people interested in design. You also have older couples that want to travel and kind of see known places through a different way,” replied Worth.
“When I think about arts — we're building back Buffalo and it's one of the things to do, so because you go to different states like I do travel, I go to museums and to know we have one actually here — is a beautiful thing,” responded Thagard.
Art gallery leaders said 30 percent of their visitors are from outside of Erie County, but with the new design, they are expecting a ten percent increase in those numbers. They also said the new museum could generate a nearly $50-million economic impact for the Buffalo region.
