Moving from New Orleans to Austin

[twange]

Originally Posted by Lumerian Feast

My wife is currently getting her MFA in painting at UT, and her impression of Austin's art scene is:

-fairly homogenous and clique-ish, dominated by a "hipster" aesthetic

I hear you. I see that everywhere I've been around the country, even in the experimental music world...trash rules. I, personally cannot wait until that trend dies. And die it will.

The difference in places like Houston, LA, NYC SF is while they still have that element, they also have that whole other scene outside of what the hipsters like.

[socrates1234]

Originally Posted by Lumerian Feast

My wife is currently getting her MFA in painting at UT, and her impression of Austin's art scene is:

-- fairly homogenous and clique-ish, dominated by a "hipster" aesthetic

-- only a few galleries, which show the same artists over and over (most of them local)

-- not very serious because, to be blunt, there's not the same kind of money there is in Houston -- or SF or LA or NYC, obviously. So you don't get galleries showing national or international names, because people here won't or can't pony up tens of thousands of dollars for work by "name" artists. My wife recently went to an opening in Houston and was surprised that (a) it wasn't dominated by hip young slackers and (b) all of the paintings were between $20k and $80k...and they were all sold on the first night. This was a show featuring a well-known painter; in Austin, painters with national or international reputations might occasionally get a retrospective at AMOA, but they only rarely show at galleries here. (The well-known painters who happen to live in Austin, like the ones who teach at UT, all have their shows in other cities.)

-- You mentioned grad school, and UT's art MFA program is one of the best in the nation. But most of the students move out of town (NYC or LA, most frequently) soon after graduation. Very good art school, and Austin's certainly a suitable and fun place for a few years, but as far as fine art, it's not where the real action is. I agree with austifornian that it's a good place to settle down, so if you've already "paid your dues" in bigger art markets, it's fine to work here, because you've already got your connections in other places.

Very well said, and you can extrapolate those things to all high culture in Austin....just relies on local folks, many of whom don't even show in town. That's why so much culture is generated out of UT, what there is of it. Top theater up-and-comers can't afford to waste time in an area they won't be found at, same with visual artists. The one thing they are doing well at is creating a movie-making scene, with film as a major part of SXSW. I would work with that, and hope it attracts artists in other fields, and that all important "scene"......

[Lana732]

I'm originally from Miami and I've been in Houston for 10 years. I live in New Orleans since post-K. My husband is not a fan of Houston. As for me, I really enjoyed Houston and I think it is time to move on. I was able to showcase my work for years in Houston so the art market there has been good to me.
I don't mind trekking to SF rather than the 'safe' move... going to Houston or Austin. This decision means we are going to settle in this town.... FOREVER!!! If we move to Austin...that frightens me to be in Austin as an artist- forever!! My husband got this great offer in Austin paying more than any other cities...starting salary, at least. I'm happy having taco bell for dinner every night in SF since SF starting salary for him is much less, but manageable. Of course, starting salary is much less and housing is much more than Austin...we don't have kids; I'd take that risk. And when/if we move to SF..
It sounds to me Austin is not the place for me to continue with my art career, but a great place for my husband. I don't know whether I should just suck it up and make the most out of Austin or take that leap to SF/East Bay, to be exact.

We'd have to live suburbs SF rather than downtown SF because my husband has to be near his new office and we'd probably need to start a year off living in the suburbs to familiarize ourselves with all the neighborhoods...less expensive, too.
In Austin, we'd be able to live in downtown. Which is important for us in any city we live in... living in DT, like our situation now in New Orleans.

We've checked out some homes near DT Austin, condos in DT and may look into a house if I don't have enough studio space...maybe we have to go suburbs Austin.
(looking for a home is all difficult when you're doing most of your research online.)
Austin has new condos up and popping up everywhere, our real estate agent cannot keep up with.
We're looking into homes/condo, no more than $550k whether we're in Austin or East Bay of SF. Can we make it in East Bay or go 'safe' and take the Austin offer?
Living in Berkley, is that an option with that budget? What's the most desirable place to live in Austin?

[twange]

Austin's art scene is growing, which means at some point this conversation will be different. Whether that is suitable for everyone's needs now is certainly debatable. In any case, here's an article from the Chronicle last week in case anyone missed it:

The Austin Chronicle: Arts: Austin Visual Arts: 'Art in America' surveys the scene

[Lana732]

Thanks, twange!

[julrey]

Keep in mind also that Houston is only a couple hours away. Probably too far for anything resembling a daily commute, but if you're planning on living in the suburbs in the East Bay you may have a pretty lengthy drive there as well.