By SUSAN KEPECS

Who are we, seven years into the 21st century? Is Madison still Dairyland's cultural core, or has our level of sophistication risen with population growth and the crime rate? Ticket sales at the city's two main performing arts venues this year should contain clues to our current identity.

The 88-year-old Wisconsin Union Theater's an art-deco bastion of deep, edgy art. But can the cultural arm of the university, long reliant on institutional support, maintain its intellectual stance in this sound-bite, megacorp era? The Overture Center's fourth season -- "Overture Presents," as distinct from its local resident troupes -- follows the trend set from day one, financing a handful of wilder works with profits from more popular programming. Will this strategy still succeed?

The answers depend on you. Here's my biased assessment of the Overture and Union Theater seasons. Pick your own tickets, and remember what my grandma used to say -- there's no disputing over taste.

Two additional sensible suggestions: the Solid Blues tour (Oct. 31, Overture Hall) with Chicago gospel queen Mavis Staples and Delta bluesman Charlie Musselwhite, and Sones de Mexico (Nov. 30, Capitol Theater), a Chicago ensemble that mixes mostly traditional son from across Mexico with occasional departures into Bach, Led Zeppelin and Woody Guthrie.