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I recently visited Los Angeles, and while I consider myself more of a "mid-sized city" person, I was a bit taken with the strong sense of artistic community in the place. It seems like everyone on my trip was doing cool/unique things or aspiring to do so; like there is a "common struggle" or "common goal" towards this end and a strong sense of support towards these aspirations -- whether the final goal be working in the arts, as a freelancer, etc.
I'm wondering if there are some more mid-sized places that offer a similar sense of artistic community in this respect. A large part of my concern with the "mid-sized" stipulation is minimizing driving (e.g., either short driving distances or strong public transport).
Check out places like Kansas City or St Petersburg which have vibrant arts communities and a lack of geography in terms of driving "all over the place".
I recently visited Los Angeles, and while I consider myself more of a "mid-sized city" person, I was a bit taken with the strong sense of artistic community in the place. It seems like everyone on my trip was doing cool/unique things or aspiring to do so; like there is a "common struggle" or "common goal" towards this end and a strong sense of support towards these aspirations -- whether the final goal be working in the arts, as a freelancer, etc.
I'm wondering if there are some more mid-sized places that offer a similar sense of artistic community in this respect. A large part of my concern with the "mid-sized" stipulation is minimizing driving (e.g., either short driving distances or strong public transport).
I appreciate any insights!
Actually it's a bit counterintuitive, but your smaller cities are going to be the best for this because the artists have to band together and because they are still small enough to carve out your own niche. After that cities that are close to major art centers where people go to work on their craft while enjoying a lower cost of living are next.
Mid-sized cities, while they can be great for the arts, tend to lack the strong sense of artistic community because cities that size are almost always transitioning (i.e. growing, shrinking, or changing from an old way to a new mode of being).
Detroit? I know it might sound a bit off, but there's definitely a strong community spirit there and the part of the city that's being revitalized (and expanding outwards) is a pretty tight and walkable area. The main strip is Woodward and that's just launched a streetcar recently.
Nashville maybe. They're known for their art and murals, and they have them everywhere. I think there is some housing specifically for artistic types.
When I visited, we got to talking with a guy who was painting a mural in the Gulch neighborhood and he said people actually come from all over the world to paint in Nashville in hopes to get recognized, or to show off their skills, or something like that.
I would give the city a look. I wouldn't call it "mid-sized", but it's not huge. Metro still hasn't hit 2 million yet.
I remember that the OP also wanted to stay within a certain distance of Detroit. In that case, perhaps look into say Cincinnati, Columbus, Buffalo, Rochester and even Grand Rapids, if this is still the case. There may be others depending upon what is viewed as being mid sized by the OP.
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