"Remember the Space Race? It's like that, but for ever increasing cultural success. Seems like city leaders have been playing a lot of 'Civilization VI'," Fanny Kemble culture adviser Arisa Meripal said.
Fanny Kemble, a city of 30,000 in the south, hopes to become the spearhead of culture for the region. Mayor Upton Bougainville is one of several Midlandia mayors to double down on culture this month.
"Eyes of Gohma thinks it is going to be the cultural capital of Midlandia? It is to laugh," Bougainville said. "There is not a single city in the region that spends more per capita on art and culture than our city."
The latest salvo in this burgeoning culture war is FK's Civilized House of Culture and Art museum which opened recently in the city's Esterhaus neighborhood. The impressive Euro-styled building is easily the largest art gallery in the region, putting even the Midlandia History Museum in Industry Haven to shame.
"A city with a smaller border area than most, Fanny Kemble is seeking a way to distinguish itself from an increasingly competitive group of southland cities," Meripal said. "Part of the reason we're seeing this sudden increase in attention to cultural matters is this drive to attract the best and brightest Midlandia Sims. There's universities going up everywhere, private academies, all sorts of new and creative parks and facilities. Right now, Midlandia also has a lot of money flowing through it, especially in the Triforce Area and the south, too. That's pushing city leaders to spend more and more of that money on things like theater and culture," she said.
Sometimes, however, not all boats are raising to the top, said Paul Donatu, head of the Midlandia League of Community Fairness.
"You have to understand that most mayors in Midlandia do not have all their citizens' wellbeing in their hearts, but only the ones with Simoleons aplenty," Donatu said. "It falls to watchdog agencies like ours to do what we can to keep mayors honest and on track."
Even in Fanny Kemble, a nicely balanced city in terms of wealth distribution, there are pockets of disparity. Some residents of Allen Street have found it difficult to keep up with the city's increasing wealth.
"Yeah, it's great and all that they built that whole new rich area over by Esterhaus," Allen Street resident Russell Stover said. "But I gotta drive further and further to work, and now compete with all these new people for jobs. Meanwhile, my house is in disrepair and needs a new roof. No culture museum's gonna fix that for me."
Culture Adviser Meripal disagrees with Donatu and Stover, as she takes the view that cultural growth will in time enrich every Sim's wellbeing. "Jobs follow education and culture, and it's the best companies that want to locate near the best art and culture facilities. But change doesn't happen overnight, as they say. Some people are just going to have to wait for the changes to take root."
Fanny Kemble
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