Where Artists Live in US (rent, home, college)

[AK123]

Originally Posted by ArtinUS

Maybe I'm looking for a paradise that doesn't exist, but can anyone suggest other US cities that have most of the following: an art community (not arts & crafts), diversity and young poeple, not too expensive. I've never lived outside of NYC and I'm afraid of moving and feeling isolated.

You might look at these neighborhoods in Houston: Montrose, the Heights, West University, Bellaire, Midtown.

Houston actually has the 3rd largest population of working artists in the country (though I suspect this groups together the performing arts, visual arts and others). It would have the diversity you're used to and be another large city.

Houston
Houston's Power Mix: Space, Energy, Old West Legacy

(both of these have the artist population quote if you scroll down enough)

[ArtinUS]

Originally Posted by JJP

You might look at these neighborhoods in Houston: Montrose, the Heights, West University, Bellaire, Midtown.

Houston actually has the 3rd largest population of working artists in the country (though I suspect this groups together the performing arts, visual arts and others). It would have the diversity you're used to and be another large city.

Houston
Houston's Power Mix: Space, Energy, Old West Legacy

(both of these have the artist population quote if you scroll down enough)

Hi. I have cousins in Houston and they L-O-V-E it. I'm looking for something a little more country and less suburb. Some other sites recommend Trinidad, CO. Is that too country?

[radraja]

Houston could work. It does have urban neighborhoods...it's really not all that "country".
Providence could possibly be good too.

Also look at Seattle and Portland. Seattle is getting more expensive these days, but it's still more affordable than the giants (NYC, Boston, SanFran, Chicago, LA). The only giant northern city that's actually affordable is Philly. Which probably isn't much better than NYC.

Also maybe look at Austin, TX. Which is a pretty eclectic, artsy kind of city.

[radraja]

Originally Posted by ArtinUS

Hi Fruitlassie. Thanks for understanding! My husband is black and I'm white, so urban areas are more comforting.

Ummm..I agree that Omaha isn't the answer to everything. But it is an urban area. It's not like a hick town or something...

[fruitlassie]

Originally Posted by Go Ne

Omaha has tons of Condos downtown and our downtown is diverse, and I am not a troll so don't call me one, our downtown is diverse, and it is also very walkable and Omaha is very open minded to artists, we are also more liberal than conservative, I live here you don't!

What city doesn't have condos? Condos alone don't make a city progressive, cool or great for artists. Downtown walkable? Only if you live, work and play within a very limited area. You must have a car to get around the city otherwise. Liberal? Perhaps in relation to the rest of Nebraska which is very much a red state, but it is still conservative in the context of the entire country:

America's most conservative cities in 2005 (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/widgets/infographics/mostconservative.asp - broken link)

This is the thing, Omaha may seem like an oasis to someone who lives in the middle of nowhere, but for someone like the original poster who comes from New York, and is looking for somewhere similarly artsy and progressive, it's not an appropriate suggestion AT ALL! Just because it has condos and a few art galleries doesn't make it any different from almost any other city in America!

Then again this is all coming from someone who thinks Omaha has the best zoo, performing arts center and botanical gardens in all of the US. You expect people to take you seriously? It's fine to like the city where you live but it really bothers me that you have no objectivity whatsoever.

I spent age 0-25 in Omaha, so I probably was there longer than you've been alive, based on what your age seems to be from your posts. I still have family there and I only moved away a few years ago. Are you telling me that the city changed into some funky, hip metropolis overnight as soon as I left?

Very sorry to hijack the original post, that's all I have to say on this, I promise!

[ArtinUS]

Originally Posted by radraja

Ummm..I agree that Omaha isn't the answer to everything. But it is an urban area. It's not like a hick town or something...

I looked at Omaha online and it does look nice. But maybe not for me.

Anybody have thoughts on Portland Oregon?? THX!

[AK123]

Originally Posted by ArtinUS

Hi. I have cousins in Houston and they L-O-V-E it. I'm looking for something a little more country and less suburb. Some other sites recommend Trinidad, CO. Is that too country?

I don't know anything about Trinidad CO, sorry. What do you mean more country? Less urban?

[radraja]

Portland is lovely. It's very green and very clean (pretty much the opposite of how you described NYC). It's very liberal and progressive...but not quite as pretentious as Seattle and other liberal cities. It's very down to earth. Nice place.

You just have to be okay with cloudy days.

[houstoner]

Originally Posted by ArtinUS

Hi. I have cousins in Houston and they L-O-V-E it. I'm looking for something a little more country and less suburb.

Yes, there's a rich visual arts scene in Houston. But if you're looking for more "country" I'd check out that thread about artist communities in the U.S. by ontheroad. It was pretty long and detailed and had some great suggestions. Also, check out http://www.amazon.com/100-Best-Art-T.../dp/0881506419 and http://americanstyle.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publicatio ns::Article&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&t ier=4&id=93EC7B257A1D4C1E845C2DE114820B50 (broken link).

[JMT]

Top 10 metropolitan areas ranked by number of artists, 2000 Census

1. Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA 140,620
2. New York, NY 132,990
3. Chicago, IL 64,800
4. Washington, DC-MD-VA-WV 47,360
5. Boston, MA-NH 38,885
6. Philadelphia, PA-NJ 35,670
7. San Francisco, CA 35,470
8. Atlanta, GA 34,350
9. Detroit, MI 33,215
10. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI 28,685

Top 10 metropolitan areas ranked by percentage of artists in the labor force

Total artists
1. San Francisco, CA 3.71
2. Santa Fe, NM 3.36
3. Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA 3.26
4. New York, NY 3.12
5. Stamford-Norwalk, CT 3.01
6. Boulder-Longmont, CO 2.64
7. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA 2.37
8. Danbury, CT 2.28
9. Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Lompoc, CA 2.25
10. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA 2.16

Actors
1. Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA 0.34
2. New York, NY 0.17
3. Medford-Ashland, OR 0.13
4. Orlando, FL 0.08
5. Wilmington, NC 0.07
6. Ventura, CA 0.07
7. Jersey City, NJ 0.07
8. Stamford-Norwalk, CT 0.06
9. San Francisco, CA 0.05
10. Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Lompoc, CA 0.05

Announcers
1. Alexandria, LA 0.16
2. Gainesville, FL 0.13
3. South Bend, IN 0.13
4. Bangor, ME 0.11
5. Panama City, FL 0.11
6. Abilene, TX 0.11
7. Duluth-Superior, MN-WI 0.11
8. Danville, VA 0.10
9. Burlington, VT 0.10
10. Lubbock, TX 0.10

Architects
1. Santa Fe, NM 0.51
2. San Francisco, CA 0.50
3. Boulder-Longmont, CO 0.44
4. Charlottesville, VA 0.38
5. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA 0.37
6. Boston, MA-NH 0.36
7. Stamford-Norwalk, CT 0.36
8. Danbury, CT 0.30
9. Trenton, NJ 0.29
10. Oakland, CA 0.28

Fine artists, art directors, and animators
1. Santa Fe, NM 1.12
2. San Francisco, CA 0.55
3. Santa Rosa, CA 0.39
4. Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA 0.38
5. New York, NY 0.38
6. Barnstable-Yarmouth, MA 0.37
7. Stamford-Norwalk, CT 0.37
8. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA 0.37
9. Fort Collins-Loveland, CO 0.36
10. San Luis Obispo-Atascadero-Paso Robles, CA 0.35

Dancers and choreographers
1. Las Vegas, NV-AZ 0.16
2. Myrtle Beach, SC 0.12
3. Honolulu, HI 0.09
4. Flint, MI 0.08
5. Gadsden, AL 0.08
6. Reno, NV 0.07
7. Orlando, FL 0.06
8. Anchorage, AK 0.06
9. Tucson, AZ 0.06
10. Jacksonville, NC 0.06

Designers
1. San Francisco, CA 1.40
2. Stamford-Norwalk, CT 1.27
3. Boulder-Longmont, CO 1.05
4. New York, NY 0.99
5. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA 0.94
6. New London-Norwich, CT-RI 0.93
7. Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA 0.91
8. Bloomington, IN 0.90
9. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA 0.88
10. San Jose, CA 0.86

Entertainers and performers
1. Orlando, FL 0.27
2. Las Vegas, NV-AZ 0.21
3. Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL 0.12
4. Myrtle Beach, SC 0.12
5. Reno, NV 0.10
6. Melbourne-Titusville-Palm Bay, FL 0.10
7. Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA 0.08
8. Naples, FL 0.08
9. Fort Lauderdale, FL 0.08
10. Tucson, AZ 0.07

Musicians
1. Nashville, TN 0.65
2. Lawrence, KS 0.31
3. Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA 0.29
4. Bloomington, IN 0.29
5. New York, NY 0.27
6. Sarasota-Bradenton, FL 0.27
7. Hattiesburg, MS 0.26
8. Myrtle Beach, SC 0.25
9. Trenton, NJ 0.24
10. Punta Gorda, FL 0.24

Photographers
1. San Francisco, CA 0.20
2. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA 0.20
3. Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Lompoc, CA 0.19
4. Columbia, MO 0.18
5. New York, NY 0.17
6. Asheville, NC 0.17
7. Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA 0.17
8. Gainesville, FL 0.15
9. Springfield, MO 0.15
10. Boulder-Longmont, CO 0.15

Producers and directors
1. Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA 0.53
2. New York, NY 0.38
3. San Francisco, CA 0.31
4. Stamford-Norwalk, CT 0.24
5. Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Lompoc, CA 0.23
6. Nashville, TN 0.22
7. Jersey City, NJ 0.19
8. Ventura, CA 0.19
9. Washington, DC-MD-VAWV 0.19
10. Champaign-Urbana, IL 0.17

Writers and authors
1. Santa Fe, NM 0.41
2. San Francisco, CA 0.39
3. Boulder-Longmont, CO 0.37
4. New York, NY 0.36
5. Bloomington, IN 0.36
6. State College, PA 0.32
7. Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA 0.32
8. Stamford-Norwalk, CT 0.31
9. Missoula, MT 0.30
10. Corvallis, OR 0.29

Omaha is nowhere on any of these lists.

The entire report is available here:

http://www.nea.gov/research/ArtistsInWorkforce.pdf