A congressman is trading one theater for another.

An iconic maestro hit a milestone with her orchestra and stacked up yet another Grammy nomination; Niagara Falls tourism saw what should be the first of multiple improvements, and while those things and more were happening, the people you might see chatting about this news on television significantly changed.

From leadership changes (and there were many) to places where you can get a locally made drink, Western New York’s cultural landscape was in constant motion in 2023.

AKG opens to wide acclaim

Buffalo’s iconic art museum was renovated and renamed — and in the process, Western New York’s position in the global art community was reinvigorated.

After nearly three years of renovations, the Buffalo AKG Art Museum opened in June. The former Albright-Knox Art Gallery underwent a $195 million renovation and expansion that began in early 2020. The renewed museum includes 13 galleries that feature approximately 430 works, or three times the number on display in the former gallery.

The museum was designed by Shohei Shigematsu of the international architecture firm OMA and includes a new three-story, glass-and-marble building named for the billionaire Jeffrey M. Gundlach, an Amherst native whose $65 million contribution paid for one-third of the project.

Higgins to run Shea’s

After 19 years splitting time between Buffalo and Washington, D.C., Rep. Brian Higgins announced in November that he would be retiring from Congress in February to become president and CEO of Shea’s Performing Arts Center.

“Theater has been an essential art form of democracy,” said Higgins, making a reference to Athens in the sixth century B.C.

But to explain why he’s leaving Congress in the middle of his 10th term, the South Buffalo Democrat made a current-day reference to theatrics encumbering democracy.

“There is a lot of theater nowadays in Congress,” Higgins said. “The actors at Shea’s are professional. The actors in Congress, where it’s become increasingly more performative, are not.”

Higgins succeeds Michael Murphy, who was fired in late 2022 after leading Shea’s for six years.

Falletta, BPO celebrate 25 years

JoAnn Falletta marked her 25th year as the conductor and musical director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra with a plaudit that is becoming familiar: a Grammy nomination.

Falletta and the BPO, which have won two Grammys already for their classical recordings, were nominated in the category of Best Orchestral Performance for an album of works by 19th-century Russian composer Alexander Scriabin, “The Poem of Ecstasy and Symphony No. 2.”

The album was released in February on the classical music label Naxos. In an October interview with The News, Falletta described the significance of her work with Naxos, which has charged her with finding and recording little-known pieces.

“The greatest part of our repertoire has been pieces that are not known, or are little-known,” said Falletta, who also won a Grammy with the London Symphony. “The orchestra has to be these detectives, along with me. We’re creating an interpretation of these pieces. We’re creating something that’s brand new.”

Leadership changes at cultural institutions

Higgins’ appointment to the helm of Shea’s was one of several changes to the leadership landscape of Western New York cultural organizations:

Bernice Radle became executive director of Preservation Buffalo Niagara in April, succeeding Jessie Fisher, who left in January to become executive director of the Darwin Martin House Complex.

Lisa Smith was named president and CEO of the Buffalo Zoo in July. She had been the interim leader since September, when she replaced the former CEO Norah Fletchall.

Keelie Sheridan took over as executive director of the Irish Classical Theatre Company in August.

Katie Mallinson was named executive director of the Kavinoky Theatre in August.

Walter Mayer, the senior director of museum collections at the Buffalo History Museum, retired in September. He was succeeded by Michelle Harris.

Leah Angel Daniel was appointed executive director of the African American Cultural Center in October. The center’s Paul Robeson Theatre is being led pro bono by actor and director Verneice Turner.

Aquarium of Niagara CEO Gary Siddall is leaving the organization at the end of January to become president and CEO at the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, the cultural institution that manages the Buffalo Museum of Science and Tifft Nature Preserve. He replaces Marisa Wigglesworth, who left in June after seven years to become CEO of the Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs, Colo. After Siddall’s job change was announced in November, Tracie Schafer was appointed interim president and CEO.

Turnover on local TV

For years – generations, even – Western New York television viewers could turn on a local newscast and see the same familiar faces.

Turnover at Buffalo’s network-affiliated television stations was on high speed in 2023. Veteran WGRZ newsman Michael Wooten left the station in late summer after a 14-year tenure. A little over a month later, he joined WKBW. Meanwhile, broadcast veterans including Maria Genero (WGRZ), Kate Welshofer (WGRZ) and Mike Randall (WKBW) all moved on. Hannah Buehler, a well-known reporter, exited her role at WKBW.

After experiencing plenty of churn in 2022, WIVB’s morning show saw the changes continue in 2023, with anchors Abby Fridmann leaving in April and Chris Horvatits departing this month.

Meanwhile, Spectrum News morning co-anchor Scott Patterson’s job was eliminated by a corporate decision to launch a statewide morning show from Albany — and then he took a job replacing Horvatits at WIVB. Starting in January, Patterson will co-anchor “Wake Up!” with Ali Touhey.

WGRZ’s weather anchor corps changed significantly, chiefly with the departure of Genero, a member of the Buffalo Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame, and also with the exit of Elyse Smith and Carl Lam.

Outer Harbor venue finished

Buffalo’s Outer Harbor has been the site of concerts for more than a quarter century, from the late ’90s, when Kiss 98.5 FM hosted its annual Kiss the Summer Hello concert there, to last summer, when artists ranging from the Canadian rockers The Arkells to the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra performed on temporary stages.

Now, that stage will be permanent.

Work finished this year on an open-air, $12 million music pavilion and events center on an elevated concrete slab within the steel frame of the former Terminal B warehouse.

The concert capacity is expected to be in the range of 5,000 to 6,000 people, with no seats — so plan to bring blankets and lawn chairs when the shows start in 2024.

West Side Bazaar comes back

A two-story, century-old building at 1432 Niagara St. became the new home in October of the West Side Bazaar, the nationally recognized space that features food offerings from Buffalo’s immigrant and refugee communities.

The bazaar’s previous home on Grant Street closed in 2022 after an accidental fire. The new, renovated space is five times bigger and features both retail and restaurants, including Vietnamese, Burmese, Italian, Egyptian, Central African and Congolese, Japanese, Malaysian and Korean cuisines.

Want a drink?

Western New York’s plentiful offerings of locally produced beverage offerings continued to expand. A sampling:

• Foxhole Farm Winery, an agricultural winery, opened in Colden.
• NateMeg Farm, a roadside farm microwinery and microbrewery that grows its own grapes for wine and hops for beers, opened in South Wales.
• Illumination Meadery joined Mortalis Brewing Co. on Niagara Street in Buffalo.
• Still on the Hill winery opened in Concord, with their own wines and other New York State wines, and local craft beers and spirits.
• Johnson’s Landing, a brewing and distilling facility overlooking Lake Erie, opened in Hamburg.
• Griffon Gastropub is building a brewery in Youngstown to make beer for the company’s four restaurants in Niagara Falls, Clarence, East Aurora and Lewiston. It will also be open to the public.

Welcome center coming to Falls

Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled in December a new $46 million welcome center in Niagara Falls State Park.

The Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Welcome Center, named for the late Buffalo Bills founder, is a 28,000-square-foot facility that serves local food (Sahlen’s hot dogs, DiCamillo’s baked goods, Perry’s ice cream) and features local retail, including New Era Cap and Oxford Pennant.

The center was funded in part by an $8 million contribution from the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation.

During the center’s opening ceremony, Hochul noted that it will help direct attention of the state park’s 9 million annual visitors to other nearby attractions, including the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center and the Niagara Power Project’s Power Vista.

Major expansion plans for aquarium

The effort to make Niagara Falls a splashy destination was elevated in July with the announcement of a plan to double the size of the Aquarium of Niagara.

The $18 million project, which is expected to be publicly and privately funded, will add a 16,000-square-foot building that will allow for permanent and traveling exhibits, a playground, retail and other amenities for visitors.

Construction is expected to begin within two years.

“This really is the gateway to what the future for the aquarium looks like,” said Gary Siddall, the now-outgoing president and CEO of the aquarium. “It’s no longer about one single concrete structure. It’s now about the sprawling campus and multiple assets directly supporting the idea of coming to Niagara Falls, being inspired by the water itself and then coming into our space as a cultural organization and learning more.”

Honorable mentions

• Reopening of Richardson Hotel: Developer Douglas Jemal reopened the 88-room Richardson Hotel in September. The former psychiatric complex had been previously revived in 2017 as the Hotel Henry Urban Resort Conference Center, but closed during the pandemic.
• Thousands flock to Taylor Swift movie: Taylor Swift hasn’t brought her “Eras” tour to Buffalo, but the October release of her movie that captures the show was enough to spark Swiftie-mania. Thousands of fans descended on theaters; the Transit Drive-In decided to show the film simultaneously on all five screens in part, said General Manager Jordan Clement, because “we don’t want someone who is here to watch another movie disturbed by thousands of screaming Swiftie fans.”
• Changing landscape for movie theaters: More viewing options means fewer movie theaters. Last January, bankruptcy court filings revealed the closing of 37 Regal theaters, including two in Western New York: one in North Buffalo, and another in Lancaster. Dipson Theatres, a family-run company from Batavia, took over another Regal site in February.
• Springsteen plays Buffalo for the first time since 2017: The Boss and his E Street Band returned to KeyBank Center for a sold-out show, Springsteen’s first in Buffalo in more than six years.
• Russert, remembered: The legacy of the iconic Buffalo-born newsman Tim Russert became a conversation last spring in Western New York and beyond when his son, Luke Russert, published his memoir, “Look For Me There: Grieving My Father, Finding Myself.” Luke Russert took his book tour to South Buffalo, his father’s hometown, for a packed signing and reading at the Blackthorn Restaurant & Pub.