Austin is often referred to as the Live Music Capital of the World. Austin may soon be become a cultural and artistic power house as well, University of Texas College of Arts and Sciences Dean Robert Freeman said.
"Where there is money and power the arts follow. It happened in London in the 1800s. It was the case in New York City in 1900s, and it's the case in Austin today," Freeman said.
The national attention being given to the grand opening of the new Blanton Museum will help the outside world realize how far Austin's cultural community has grown, he said.
"I see the museum as a coming of age of Austin as an international capital," Freeman said.
The idea excites Austin Convention and Visitor's Bureau Tourism Director Adriana McWilliams. The new Blanton Museum is the first new tourist attraction in Austin since the opening of the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum five years ago.
"We're able to promote one of the largest university museums in the United States of America which is great. Not only that, they are also the fourth largest museum in the state of Texas," said McWilliams.
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Cultural draw
With the Blanton Museum coming to downtown, many hope Austin is finally getting a museum district.
 
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The location of the new Blanton is a selling point, she said. It's across the street from the Bullock Museum and walking distance to the Capitol.
"We are calling it now a museum district," said McWilliams. Austin can finally start competing with the museum and art districts in Fort Worth and Houston, she said.
Texas State History Museum Director Lynn Denton is hopeful people will buy into the idea.
"We each have so much to offer that, I think, people are going to want to stay, extend their stay in Austin, come back over the weekend and go to more than one place," said Denton.
Tourists who come, specifically for the arts, tend to stay longer and spend more money, according to McWilliams. Last year tourists spent $522 million on arts and entertainment alone.
An estimated 200,000 people are expected to visit the Blanton in its first year, McWilliams said.
Many of those visitors will be part of a new genre of guests that will create a demand for even more culture and arts in Austin, she said.
