Artists' Centers: Evolution and Impact on Careers, Neighborhoods and Economies

Beyond formal training, most artists create and work in relative isolation. In early career stages, they often lack the expensive tools, such as darkrooms, digital labs, kilns, and printing presses. They need spaces to rehearse, hang their work, try out their poems and plays on audienceseven a room of ones own to think and write.
Cut off from peers and mentors, they need encouragement and critical feedback. They dont know much about how art markets work. If there is nowhere for artists to go for help, there are likely to be fewer of them, and the quality of their work is likely to suffer.
Over the past generation, a unique form of dedicated space for artists has emerged in the United States. Minnesota serves as a laboratory in this study to explore the impact of artists centers on artists and on regions and neighborhoods. The state and its major metro areathe Twin Cities of MinneapolisSt. Paulhost high concentrations of artists, with their ranks growing relatively rapidly over two decades.
In tandem with other elements in the region, the extraordinary density and quality of artists centers contribute to the states artistic reputation...

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A case study by Ann Markusen and Amanda Johnson, Hubert H. Humprey Institute, University of Minnesota