Santa Fe Named No. 2 Best Place for Artists

Santa Fe was named the second best place in the United States for artists and creatives by Sperling's Best Places and Businessweek.com on March 15, 2007.

The list of the Top 10 best places was compiled by identifying metro areas that have the highest concentrations of artistic business establishments. In conducting their nationwide analysis, this online data source and news publication also considered the percentage of people between the ages of 25 to 34, population diversity and the concentration of museums, orchestras, dance companies, theater troupes, library resources and college arts programs.

“Santa Fe is rich in talent, cultural offerings, and educational opportunities in the arts and creative industries. Our artistic output includes notable contemporary as well as traditional expressions of Native American and Hispanic heritage,” said Jackie M., Chairman of Creative Santa Fe. “The large number of creative individuals, artistic business establishments, and over 12,500 jobs within the creative industries demonstrates that this community is a hub, offering social support and financial opportunities for talent working in these fields. Creative Santa Fe’s goal is to help our creative economy grow even stronger.”

Santa Fe's Creative Industries:

• Generate $1.1 billion annually;
• Support 12,567 jobs or 17.5% of total employment;
• Paid $231.5 million in wages and salaries;
• Attract 78% ($814 million) of it revenues from outside Santa Fe County; bolstering our economy with new capital;
• Contribute 39% of total into our local economy annually;
• Produce $22.6 million in City taxes and revenues;
• Produce $13.4 million in County taxes and revenues;
• nclude the largest per capita concentration of artists, performers and writers of any city in the U.S.;
• Include the highest per capital of art-related businesses in the country; and
• Santa Fe is the second largest art market in the U.S. in terms of dollar sales.

“The City of Santa Fe's Economic Development Strategy recognizes the importance of creative people and businesses to the community and has targeted resources to help artistic and creative businesses grow,” according to Mayor David Coss. “We want to continue to provide more affordable housing, business training and financial assistance, and workforce training for people in the creative industries.” Coss noted that this is a very exciting time in our community with the new civic center, railyard development, and expansion of the Palace of the Governors Museum all underway in addition to the opening of the new Southside Library – the first new library in Santa Fe in 27 years. The development of the Bataan Memorial Arts Complex will allow for the expansion of the Santa Fe Children’s Museum, Santa Fe Performing Arts, CCA, and the Bataan Memorial Museum. And, of course, contributing to our creative economy is Santa Fe’s distinction as the first American city to be named to the UNECO Creative Cities Network.

“This explosion of investment in Santa Fe’s Creative Industries will improve the environment for artists and allow more creative business opportunities for our community,” said Coss.

The top ten places for artists are:

• Los Angeles, CA
• Santa Fe, NM
• Carson City, NV
• New York, NY
• Kingston, NY
• Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA
• Nashville, TN
• Boulder, CO
• San Francisco, CA
• Nassau-Suffolk Counties, NY

Creative Santa Fe, Inc. http://www.creativesantafe.org/ is a not-for-profit, grassroots organization dedicated to strengthening and promoting Santa Fe’s creative economy.