Durham, North Carolina is a small city whose gritty history (that we produced 
25% of the world's cigarettes in the 1930's is but one highlight of our fabled 
past) is currently being burnished to a nice bronze patina by a wide variety of 
folks belonging to the creative class. Downtown studio space is incredibly 
cheap by big city standards and although many restaurants, music clubs, 
breweries and the like have opened in the past decade there is still plenty of 
empty space.  One thing to be said about smaller cities such as Durham - you 
are free to do as you please. I have been here 20 years, and find that there is 
more peer support than peer pressure. There is no "scene" to speak of, and in a 
very real way, if someone tried to impose one it would be shouted down. Plenty 
of artists, plenty of space, plenty of freedom.

I have always enjoyed visiting San Francisco and New York, and in the 70's when 
I got started in film I had to do so in order to see experimental work. But no 
way could I afford to live in those cities now, much less have a studio, as I 
can rather easily afford here in Bull City.


-          Tom



From: frameworks-boun...@jonasmekasfilms.com 
[mailto:frameworks-boun...@jonasmekasfilms.com] On Behalf Of matt's frameworks 
address
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2011 2:50 PM
To: Experimental Film Discussion List
Subject: Re: [Frameworks] Moving to San Francisco

"This is just speculation on my part, but it's been widely reported that the 
suburbs are now increasingly the places where lower income folks can afford to 
live and not in the urban core: thus recent immigrants, people arriving from 
other regions of the US, the working class, and minorities of various kinds are 
entering the collar communities.  The characteristic "mix" of art bohemia 
scenes might now be developing in the burbs?  Can anyone report evidence of 
this in the US?  Elsewhere?"


I think the burbs of the big cities in the US are definitely drawing immigrants 
and working class folks, but I think the young artists of today are more likely 
to move to cities that are emerging as new 'bohemian scenes' than settle for 
the burbs.  Portland is certainly a perfect example of that, and I think 
Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburgh fit that bill as well.   I don't know how 
artists make it in cities like New York or San Francisco- I suppose people have 
alternate forms of income, as the cost of living in those places is insane.

-matt




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