Based on recent rankings, outsiders must think of Atlanta as a hotbed for NASCAR racing, hipster investors and nerds. Now we can add another designation to the list: Atlanta's the best major city in America for artists looking to make a name for themselves, and to make a little scratch in the process. At least that's the conclusion of Mylife.com, which is in the business of aggregating email and social networking accounts for overworked people — and ranking American cities! After applying their sensible methodology, the writers were admittedly jolted to see the Big Peach emerge as No. 1 among the 50 most populous U.S. cities. "Where one might expect to see San Francisco or New York City at the top of this list, Atlanta was a little surprising," they write, "but when considering it ranked in the top 15 in all five of our categories, it was certainly deserved."
About those categories: MyLife took into account cost of living, considering the lowest cost the better, as artists typically aren't flush with moola. Atlanta ranked 15th there. Other factors that worked in ATL's favor were the number of people age 20 to 34 (tied for 6th); size of the arts industry (11th); the number of museums and galleries (3rd ?); and sheer number of households with annual earnings greater than $200,000 (4th), which comes in handy when trading art for disposable income.
Below the article, there's an inspiring observation from one arty Atlantan in the comments section: "I moved to Atlanta 26 years ago from San Francisco," C.S. Scogins writes. "I've watched this city grow and the Arts take a prominent lead in the development of the area. There is a lot happening in Atlanta in the visual, preforming and musical arts and it is just beginning to come into its own. It's nice to know I'm in a city and area that supports artists and the value we bring to the local culture."
· The 10 Best Cities to be an Artist [MyLife]
· Atlanta named nerdiest city in United States [ABC]
[ABOVE: Edgewood Avenue photo: brooklynstreetart.com]
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