Chicago's vs. Philly's Art Scene

[featherlight53]

Originally Posted by Frank Bones

I would guess rent is cheaper in Philly than Chicago too.

According to this it is only marginally cheaper. I've looked at some ads on craigslists for areas in/around both cities, and found them to be fairly comparable. Chicago tends to be about $100 a month higher in rent (for a studio apt) in most places.
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed

Note that I'll probably be making slightly more at my dayjob in Chicago also.

[BajanYankee]

Sly Artistic City - Philly graffiti history - YouTube

[featherlight53]

Well it looks like it's Chicago for the win. Does anyone have any other saving arguments for Philly?
Great vid btw Yankee.

[Dawn.Davenport]

There's also a dirt-cheap bus that connects Philly's Chinatown to New York's for twelve bucks.

www.chinatown-bus.org

Search Bus - GotoBus

[2e1m5a]

I'm not too familiar with Chicago's art scene (aside from AIC of course) but just from a first impression of visiting the city a few years ago, Philly feels more "artsy".

Philadelphia has the most public art of any city in the country (including the most murals) and its collections in museums is also very highly regarded (MoA, Barnes, Rodin, etc). The narrow streets and often colorful rowhomes and streetscape only add to the scene IMO. There are unique pieces of art all over the city that can be exciting to stumble on, likes the Toynbee Tiles (that have since been seen popping up in cities all over the world).

Toynbee tiles - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mystery of tiles on city streets solved in Philadelphia documentary

I also love seeing Magic Garden type constructs in different places:

Philadelphia's Magic Gardens

And I of course love all the murals.

A LOVE LETTER FOR YOU - West Philadelphia Murals - YouTube

https://www.google.com/search?q=phil...w=1278&bih=587

I think both cities have ample opportunities for artists with slight edge to Chicago for being the bigger city and drawing in fresh talent from a huge area and slight edge to Philly for its location and unique local culture. Art is something that cannot be objectively compared but an artist can thrive in either place IMO.

[Nafster]

Originally Posted by Frank Bones

It's a lot easier to live off your art in Philadelphia. Rent in NYC is insane. I would guess rent is cheaper in Philly than Chicago too.

Plenty of artists in New York do it and get by (they can live in Brooklyn or neighborhoods further out).

My point being is we should judge based on the cities alone and not their proximity to others, especially ones that two hours away.

[featherlight53]

2e1m51 - one of the best posts so far. I've actually see those magic gardens when I visited Philly a few years back. They really are beautiful.