(Via Boing Boing)
Working artists, budding arts, wanna-be artists, and anyone else whose calling is associated with the word "starving": The new, hot venue for making art is Detroit, Michigan.
Why Detroit? According to Toby Barlow writing for The New York Times, property values in that city have sunk so low that a house can be bought for as little as $100, giving artists an affordable space to live and work. "A group of architects and city planners in Amsterdam started a project called the “Detroit Unreal Estate Agency” . . . The director of a Dutch museum, Van Abbemuseum, has called it 'a new way of shaping the urban environment.' He’s particularly intrigued by the luxury of artists having little to no housing costs."
Yes, this is the very same Detroit that has spent decades trying to stop rampant vandalism and arson each year around Halloween. According to Wikipedia, in Detroit during the 1980s some 500 to 800 fires were set around October 30, known as Devil's Night. After considerable community effort over many years, in 2008 there were "only" 65 reports of fire in the city.
So, artists: Support an urban renaissance, be creative, and buy sufficient and appropriate insurance as well.
