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Hello there, my husband and I are planning to move from MI and we are thinking West V, but we need some help in finding a city with a rich cultural environment as he is an sculptor. (Vision portfolio GalleryAdmin flash template ID:300109923) We have two little children (2 & 4) so we also need a good school system and a safe place.
Any suggestion will be really appreciated.
The bigger towns are your safest bet. Morgantown, Charleston, Huntington, maybe Parkersburg. Morgantown is a huge college town with a larger percentage of educated professionals and professors than anywhere else on the state. You may find your best audience there. Charleston and Huntington are big enough that it would just intrinsically have a market for such a thing...but I'm not sure.
I definitely agree with WVUPharm about considering Morgantown, Charleston, and Huntington. Out of those three I would probably recommend Morgantown considering it has a young and educated population with the university being in town, plus it's 70 miles from Pittsburgh PA which is a great city for the arts. I grew up in Charleston, it isn't exactly an artists paradise, but im sure there are a around town.
Having lived in Morgantown and Huntington, I would say Huntington has a little more of a market/environment for the arts. Huntington also has a large university in Marshall but it has the benefit of having about 20,000 more people than Morgantown. Being under 45 minutes from Charleston also gives you close access to the 2 largest markets in the state with a population of over 600,000 people when you combine the Charleston and Huntington MSAs. Huntington is also home to the largest art Museum in the state and also has the Burke Art Gallery through Marshall. The city is also currently in the planning stages of getting together an arts committee as there are several art projects planned that they are wanting to tie together. Huntington also has a yearly event called Art in the Park where local artisans can display their items for sale and this is usually a big draw. There is also a store in downtown called The Downtown Depot where you could sell some of your art projects and get some visibility. Materials would also be easy to come by as Huntington has a lot of metal companies and Blenko Glass and is just down the road if you ever wanted to add glass to the list of materials used in your sculptures. Below are some links to some of what I was talking about above. Hope this helps and let me know if you need any other info.
I forgot Shepherdstown WV....it is probably the most artistically cultured of any town I have been to in the state(although I will admit I'm not familiar with Huntingtons art scene). Shepherd University, located right in town is a liberal arts college FILLED with art students, the town's historic main street is also lined with art galleries, shops and AWESOME restaurants. It isn't really a direct city enviornment, but you can drive to either Washington DC or Baltimore, both of which are full of art communities in around an hour. If you don't feel like driving there is a daily commuter train that runs to DC.
i also forgot to mention, the schools in the Shepherdstown area (Jefferson County Schools) are known for being excellent. I have many friends who attended those schools and raved about them. The only problem is they are somewhat overcrowded due to large amounts of suburban development that has made its way outward from DC.
Some are forgetting lewisburg,wv. It has one of the four carengie halls in the united states. Their are many art shops in downtown with alot of festivities for all culture. You really need to check lewisburg as well. I know many come from california and the northern states just for that and its thriving indeed.
I think Elkins would be a safe bet. With Snowshoe, Timberline, and Canaan Ski resorts if you found a way to capitalize off the thousands of tourists in the area it could be very lucrative!
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