moving to San Francisco/Oakland (Berkeley: apartments, rent, how much)

[chellisart]

Being the frustrated artist that I am with the lack of artistic/professional opportunities in the South East(Charlotte, NC) I am thinking about taking the plunge and moving out to San Francisco but most likely the Oakland area since I hear the rent is cheaper.

A little bit about me: Fairly successful fine artist in his early 30's with a masters degree and a disposable income to last me about 5 months. My network in SF consist of a whopping 2 people(so basically I don't know anyone)

Basically what I'm curious about is... What's the job market like? I'm not below doing odd low paying jobs if needed. Has anyone hear made a move out here without knowing anyone and not having a job lined up?

[clongirl]

Most of the artists/crafts people that I know DO have second jobs....like driving a cab in the evenings and another couple of friends teach sculpture/ceramics classes part time. These are all working artists...fairly successful at what they do. That being said, they all live in/around Oakland so I suppose they're are all managing quite well. There is a HUGE and thriving arts community here so it would seem fairly easy to meet people and get a leg up at some point.

[sliverbox]

I did. 13 years ago. I too work in the creative field. I also came from the South.

First and foremost, the extreme cost of living differences shouldn't be understated. Its VERY expensive here compared to what you're probably used to paying in Charlotte. So I'd suggest you spend some time realistically looking at how much the cost of rent and the cost of things like gas, food, and everything else really is and compare that to what you do now.

Secondly, SF is a LOT more expensive than Oakland. In fact I know more than my fair share of artists who moved from SF to Oakland for that reason. But you need to do some research on Oakland because the area is hit-and-miss.

Thirdly, I'm not really sure about what the fine art deal is here. But I'd say in general there are many, many more artists here in general and as such, more competition. Those I know who do well as fine artists have what I would consider to be world-class work. As in what might have passed for decent in say- Charlotte- doesn't tend to cut it as easily here because again- there's a lot of artists here and they're all competing. I too had a sort of fine art background but gradually moved towards being a digital artist. The creative industry is strong here. But that's creative work for commercial purposes.

I too did Joe-Jobs when I got here. I worked at such jobs for over 3 years in fact before landing my first creative gig and its been good since then. That meant sharing apartments and houses with other artists to keep costs down, buying bulk groceries, shopping for shoes at Goodwill... etc.

I'm not saying your experience will be the same. I'm just trying to indicate that while its a hell of a nice place to live that its going to be totally different from where you're coming from. For me it wound up being the best professional decision I ever made. But it took work.

Good luck and hope things work out great for you.

[chellisart]

Thanks for the responses. First I'm down south now but I've lived in NYC before(I show there quite often as well) so I'm assuming that's what the budget and competition are going to be like. I was looking mainly at living in Oakland. Some cities are different then others when it comes networking. For instance Philly(where I went to grad school) was utterly impossible mainly due to the ******* ratio of the city(sorry just my experience) as oppose to NYC or ATL where it seems really easy to meet people.

[Joelle_SF]

If you land in Oakland, check out ProArts to connect to other artists in the east bay - good networking for open studios, etc.
Good luck!

[dmode]

If you can transition from an artist to a UX designer, opportunities are endless. Basically, you have to apply the same concepts into a different context. May be a class on UX design from one of the local colleges will help.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Don't discount Berkeley as an option.