NY Times - Last Stop on the L Train: Detroit

[iheartthed]

That is why God created art dealers. The dealers are the ones with the main relationships with the customers, and typically the ones doing the promotion. The artist only has to show up occasionally.

However, you are somewhat right. You have to sell yourself to a dealer, and that is easier if you are hanging out where the dealers are, which is a major reason why artists do go to New York. But most artists don't sell that much wherever they are, so they may be better off being where it is easier to work on their art. A lot depends on their priorities. And it isn't that hard to get to New York. You can go to New York a lot for the difference in rents on a 6000 foot space.

Well, you can get to New York a lot easier from Newark than you can from Detroit, and Newark is also a lot less expensive than New York.

Granted, I'm not an artist and there is probably a lot of qualitative reasoning that goes into where the artists end up. But I'm just a skeptic that there is, or will ever be, a substantial movement of New York based artists to Detroit.

[mwilbert]

Well, you can get to New York a lot easier from Newark than you can from Detroit, and Newark is also a lot less expensive than New York.

Granted, I'm not an artist and there is probably a lot of qualitative reasoning that goes into where the artists end up. But I'm just a skeptic that there is, or will ever be, a substantial movement of New York based artists to Detroit.

Fair enough. I have no particular reason to think it will happen either. It is something that might make sense for some artists, that's all. There are lots of reasons why it might not make sense too.

[Bham1982]

It seems like a highly unlikely phenomenon because 1. There are tons of cheap urban areas in the Northeast Corridor very close to NYC [[someplace like Camden is as cheap as Detroit, but with public transit and actual urban neighborhods) and 2. Detroit lacks an urban environment, so isn't a cheaper version of a more desirable city, it's an entirely different environment probably not appealing to urbanites [[I'm assuming creatives in NYC value an urban environment).

[CrashDummy]

2. Detroit lacks an urban environment, so isn't a cheaper version of a more desirable city, it's an entirely different environment probably not appealing to urbanites [[I'm assuming creatives in NYC value an urban environment).

Did you just say Detroit lacks an urban environment? I can't think of more than a handful of cities that would possibly be more urban.

[Bham1982]

Did you just say Detroit lacks an urban environment? I can't think of more than a handful of cities that would possibly be more urban.

You can't be serious. Essentially all cities are more urban than Detroit. Is there even one city on earth outside the U.S. that would be less urban?

No one moves to Detroit for urbanity. That would be absurd, as it was always a city of single family homes, not apartment blocks. Now it's a city of homes interspersed with prairies, and resolutely anti-urban. It's like the anti-Barcelona or anti-Naples. Everyone has a yard and garage.

[Junjie]

You can't be serious. Essentially all cities are more urban than Detroit. Is there even one city on earth outside the U.S. that would be less urban?

No one moves to Detroit for urbanity. That would be absurd, as it was always a city of single family homes, not apartment blocks. Now it's a city of homes interspersed with prairies, and resolutely anti-urban. It's like the anti-Barcelona or anti-Naples. Everyone has a yard and garage.

It sounds like you guys have not only different definitions of "urban" [[character versus density) but also different definitions of "Detroit" [[core areas artists might plausibly care about or entire city/metro area). Seems unlikely to be a productive discussion. Artists looking for "urban grit" will find plenty in Detroit. But who knows whether that's enough to make any real difference, or whether Detroit can attract beyond that demographic just based on present downtown/midtown.

Any ideas how many people Galapagos will actually bring? They've certainly got a ton of space... three buildings in Highland Park and one in Corktown. Surprised this wasn't a bigger part of the linked story.

http://www.galapagosdetroit.com/

[CrashDummy]

It sounds like you guys have not only different definitions of "urban" [[character versus density) but also different definitions of "Detroit" [[core areas artists might plausibly care about or entire city/metro area). Seems unlikely to be a productive discussion.

Haha! Yes, I think you're right.

[gameguy56]

It seems like a highly unlikely phenomenon because 1. There are tons of cheap urban areas in the Northeast Corridor very close to NYC [[someplace like Camden is as cheap as Detroit, but with public transit and actual urban neighborhods) and 2. Detroit lacks an urban environment, so isn't a cheaper version of a more desirable city, it's an entirely different environment probably not appealing to urbanites [[I'm assuming creatives in NYC value an urban environment).

Camden and Newark are gentrifying too. So is Oakland CA.