For Art Careers, Go North
If you’re looking at art careers, you should head for the city in New York – but not the one you’re thinking of. Artists are flocking to the hot new art scene, springing up overnight in a place that might not be on your radar- Buffalo, NY. On a recent trip, I took a look at what’s making this town such a hot destination for artists this minute, what the city is doing to help new up-and-comers with their art careers, and how you can take advantage before the word gets out.
What’s Your Hustle?
Let’s say the cubicle life just isn’t for you. Maybe all of your friends have been telling you you should start selling those cute knitted hats that you make on the side, maybe you’ve hit the flea market circuit with your handmade jewelry on the weekends, maybe you want to open up shop with a full-time pottery studio. If you’re serious about art careers, or even if you’re just looking for a side hustle, you know that the rural life is not going to cut it. Emerging artists need exposure, opportunities for networking and collaboration, a market, and an audience. That means the city.
Can’t do the “farmer” without the “market”
The town that’s launching art careers
New York is the undisputed mecca for artists. But NYC ain’t cheap. The average rent for an NYC apartment is $1,190 and that’s for a place in the Bronx. If you want to be in the middle of the action, closer to the art scene in Chelsea or the East Village, you’re going to have to double that. That’s a lot of capital for someone just starting out. Unless you’ve figured out the secret for overnight success, odds are you’ll have to have a full-time cash flow just to make rent, to speak nothing of the costs of starting a business and all of that time is coming out of the time you’ll need to market yourself and, oh yeah, make art.
See? It’s not hard to find the art scene in a new town. Just go where they’re slapping it up on the buildings
Be the Artist – Minus the ‘Starving’
One bedroom apartments in Buffalo, on the other hand, rent for an average of $706 a month as of June this year. They boast some of the lowest urban rents in the United States, and the artist crowd is starting to take notice.
The Buffalo skyline
I spoke to Colleen Toledano and Rachel Kofahl of BHB Project: Build Handmade Buffalo to figure out why Buffalo of all places is attracting so many young artists.
Ms. Career Girl: “The word on the street is that Buffalo went through an economic downturn for a long time and is now is now coming back in a big way, and part of that has to do with a ton of young artists coming into the area. Are you guys from Buffalo originally?”
Toledano: “We actually just moved here from Chicago.”
MCG: “What was it that made you come to Buffalo?”
Toledano: “I help run the ceramic program at Buffalo State College, so I came here for the job, but I notice that there’s a lot of art that’s happening here and it seems really easy to get things started, and people seem really interested in helping out. People just seem really willing to help and collaborate.”
Community Makes the Artist
She’s not kidding. I met up with her at the bustling Elmwood-Bidwell’s Farmer’s Market, where she was busy selling their handmade mugs out of a handmade canoe, that they had towed there via handmade tandem bicycle, an effort that called on the talents of about forty artists from three local organizations.
BHB Project: Build Handmade Buffalo’s handmade mugs, displayed on their handmade canoe!
Toledano: “Everyone seems really excited, and excited to help. I don’t think that’s common in a lot of place, especially big cities where everyone has their own thing going on. I was in Philly for a year and a half, doing a residency and a fellowship so I do know that art scene, too. But here everyone is so willing to help, and friendly… it’s nice that everyone kind of supports each other and that’s something that I’ve been really interested in, the social practice within art making.”
Where Everybody Knows Your Name…
Buffalo has gotten a major face lift over the past few years, with the city investing a ton of money and making big pushes to revitalize their waterfront and downtown districts. Their efforts have attracted a lot of new business and tourism. I saw the camaraderie that Toledano talked about for myself when I went shopping downtown, and saw storefront after storefront packed with handmade jewelry and other goods. It wasn’t uncommon to artists dropping in off the street to talk to the owners. Artisan’s Hands in Buffalo sells handmade home decor goods sourced from local crafters and artisans, and on top of that they set aside display space in their prime downtown front window for new local artists– at no cost to them.
Buffalo’s shopping scene is very handmade friendly, with lots of shops supporting local artists, like this one
…And Knows How to Party
But don’t think that a tight-knit community translates to a sleepy, tiny town. I was surprised by the vibrancy of Buffalo’s nightlife. Driving through the bar district at midnight, the music was thumping and the party was just getting started. We got a taste at the City of Night art event, hosted inside the historic grain elevators on the waterfront. Part art exhibit, part night of urban exploration, we munched on food truck goodies and wandered through the massive, eerie grain elevators in the dark to mingle with all the up-and-comers of the Buffalo art scene, from graffiti artists and musicians to hoopers and A/V artists.
Not your average party, City of Night is part urban exploration with exhibits hosted in the cities abandoned waterfront grain elevators
