#1 New York – Jersey City – White Plains, NY-NJ (pop. 14,242,759)

Arts Providers 3rd Independent artists 13th Arts and culture employees 14th Arts and culture organizations 48th Arts, culture & entertainment firms 3rd Arts Dollars 5th Program revenue 5th Contributed revenue 7th Total expenses 5th Total compensation 5th Government Support 17th State arts dollars 151st State arts grants 246th Federal arts dollars 19th Federal arts grants 9th

The New York-Jersey City-White Plains, NY-NJ, Metro Division spans the five boroughs of New York City as well as six counties in New Jersey and three Hudson Valley counties. The diversity of options dispersed throughout New York City’s five boroughs makes the Metro Division unique.

Visitors and residents alike can experience a variety of artistic offerings in virtually all genres and from numerous cultural perspectives. Venues range from large, internationally known icons such as the Whitney Museum, Carnegie Hall, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, MoMA, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic, American Museum of Natural History, and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum to more locally-focused organizations including the Louis Armstrong House Museum, Flushing Town Hall, Weeksville Heritage Center, Sugar Hill Children’s Museum, Alice Austen House, and Bronx River Arts Center. Not surprisingly, New York is ranked 3rd in the country on overall Arts Providers and 5th on Arts Dollars per capita. Nearly every measure of both Arts Providers and Arts Dollars is in the top 1% or better. It is worth pointing out that our Arts Dollars measures do not include commercial galleries or Broadway theaters. The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs has significant impact through its dedicated support and strengthening of the city’s vibrant cultural life.

There are numerous clusters of arts and cultural activity such as the Chelsea and Lower East Side gallery districts, the Downtown Brooklyn Cultural District, Museum Mile on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Snug Harbor on Staten Island, and Flushing Meadows/Corona Park in Queens, which collectively represent a range of performing and visual arts activity. New York’s historical and future role in the arts is captured by the World Cities Culture Forum, “The creativity driving this success is grounded in New York’s neighbourhoods, which have played an often revolutionary role in developing artforms. These include Yiddish theatre in the Lower East Side, hip hop and graffiti in the Bronx, pop art and punk rock in the East Village, the jazz and literature of the Harlem Renaissance, and the continued evolution of the Broadway theatre district. Culture is deeply ingrained in communities across all five boroughs of New York. The Mayor has committed to building 1,500 units of affordable living and working space for artists and 500 work spaces for artists over the next decade, to be available at below-market rates.”12

#2 San Francisco – Redwood City – South San Francisco, CA (pop. 1,652,850)

Arts Providers 7th Independent artists 102nd Arts and culture employees 10th Arts and culture organizations 8th Arts, culture & entertainment firms 5th Arts Dollars 4th Program revenue 3rd Contributed revenue 4th Total expenses 4th Total compensation 3rd Government Support 25th State arts dollars 392nd State arts grants 268th Federal arts dollars 25th Federal arts grants 3rd

The San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco, CA, Metro Division’s arts and cultural landscape enjoys strong representation by organizations of every size and sector. Many arts and cultural organizations are clustered in neighborhoods: SOMA, Civic Center, Union Square, Potrero Hill/Dogpatch, and the Mission. San Francisco’s ballet, symphony, and opera are highly regarded, tour regularly around the world, and are among the highest-budget organizations in the community. Museums range from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which is the largest contemporary art museum in the country, to Exploratorium to the Cable Car Museum to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. ART BIAS, based in Redwood City, supports individual artists through artist studios, professional development events and resources, exhibition opportunities, and a thriving community of artists interested in each other’s success. San Francisco is home to over 1,000 murals, and thousands of public artworks, which were funded by the City’s Art Enrichment Ordinance. The Ordinance requires that 2% of gross construction costs of civic building projects be allocated for permanent public art, ultimately helping enrich and beautify public spaces throughout the city, from the airport to hospitals. San Francisco also has a 1%-for-art program requiring large downtown-area construction projects to provide public art equal to at least 1% of construction cost.

Many employees of tech companies direct their giving to the arts. San Francisco has an active and thriving “alternative/counter culture” arts community as well. The San Francisco Arts Commission is the city agency that champions the arts as essential to daily life by investing in a vibrant arts community, enlivening the urban environment and shaping innovative cultural policy. Grants for the Arts/Hotel Tax Fund is a city department that funds arts organizations and supports an arts promotion position within the city’s destination marketing organization. On a per-capita basis, San Francisco is in the top 1% on Arts Providers and Arts Dollars overall, as well as every underlying measure of Arts Dollars. It is ranked 3rd on total compensation paid to arts and culture employees and 3rd on federal arts grants.

#3 Los Angeles – Long Beach – Glendale, CA (pop. 10,105,518)

Arts Providers 1st Independent artists 1st Arts and culture employees 25th Arts and culture organizations 215th Arts, culture & entertainment firms 1st Arts Dollars 47th Program revenue 77th Contributed revenue 34th Total expenses 56th Total compensation 46th Government Support 297th State arts dollars 697th State arts grants 750th Federal arts dollars 101st Federal arts grants 95th

The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA, Metro Division’s signature film and recording industries, outstanding arts schools, enviable year-round climate, and a welcoming attitude toward nonconformists have been magnets for visual and performing artists looking to push creative boundaries for nearly a century. Today, Los Angeles boasts more artists and more arts, culture, and entertainment firms per capita than any community in the U.S., ranking 1st on Arts Providers and independent artists. The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs operates 36 cultural centers and theaters spread throughout the community, provides grant funding, and produces arts education programming with an emphasis on inclusion, diversity, equity, excellence, and accessibility.

The City of Los Angeles mandates that one percent of the total cost of all construction, improvements, or renovation projects undertaken by the city be set aside for engaging public art projects. The L.A. County Arts Commission funds, among other initiatives, free concerts at venues throughout L.A. County as part of the annual Free Concerts in Public Sites Program.

The vast wealth and subsequent generosity of early entrepreneurs resulted in Los Angeles becoming home to some of the world’s most important art museums and collections, such as the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Hammer Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Norton Simon Museum, The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, and most recently, The Broad museum. Independent art galleries with offerings for every art lover can be found all over the city. For the performing arts, Los Angeles is home to the world-renowned Music Center, one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States, with its five acclaimed venues and world-class resident companies: Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and Los Angeles Opera. The Hollywood Bowl is the largest performing arts amphitheater in the world. These iconic institutions live in harmony with the Geffen Playhouse, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and hundreds of smaller professional theater companies, dance companies, and music ensembles.

#4 Minneapolis – St. Paul – Bloomington, MN-WI (pop. 3,629,190)

Arts Providers 26th Independent artists 94th Arts and culture employees 31st Arts and culture organizations 66th Arts, culture & entertainment firms 15th Arts Dollars 8th Program revenue 11th Contributed revenue 15th Total expenses 9th Total compensation 10th Government Support 4th State arts dollars 3rd State arts grants 61st Federal arts dollars 11th Federal arts grants 17th

The Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI MSA has revered music, literary and publishing scenes, strong theaters, foundations, support for individual artists, a great orchestra, a wealth of performance and dance troupes, and many opportunities for visual artists in the region’s renowned advertising sector. Expanded support for Native American, African American, Asian, and Latinx voices is a priority. It ranks 4th in the nation in Government Support and 3rd for state arts dollars per capita. Minneapolis-St. Paul also ranks 8th in Arts Dollars and 10th nationally on total compensation to those working in arts and cultural organizations. The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Weisman Art Museum, and The Museum of Russian Art are anchors in a visual art scene that includes over 400 working studios within just the NE quadrant of Minneapolis alone. The area’s dynamic theater scene includes companies such as Illusion, Jungle, Mixed Blood, Penumbra, Mu Performing Arts, Red Eye, Theater Latté Da, In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, Lundstrum Performing Arts, and the Children’s Theatre Company. The Guthrie Theater, the area’s largest theater company, occupies a three-stage complex overlooking the Mississippi River. The Minnesota Orchestra performs in Minneapolis at the recently renovated Orchestra Hall, and Minnesota Opera performs in St. Paul’s Ordway theater.

The Science Museum of Minnesota and Minnesota Children’s Museum are also in St. Paul. The city is home to the Minnesota Fringe Festival, the largest non-juried performing arts festival in the U.S., and Art-A-Whirl, the largest open studio tour. In addition, Minneapolis has the largest literary and book center in the country, Open Book, and launched its inaugural literary festival, Wordplay, in May 2019. There are numerous community-based organizations that focus on cultural and ethnic practice and exchange, sharing knowledge of folk arts and celebratory events. ArtPlace America has helped to fund “Irrigate,” a three-year community development initiative created through the partnership between Springboard for the Arts, City of Saint Paul, and Twin Cities Local Initiatives Support Corporation. Irrigate developed in response to the disruptive construction of a new rail line through the urban core, concerning many business owners in the area. Likewise, the City of Minneapolis’ Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy directs a Kresge-funded initiative offering multiple opportunities for artists and city departments to leverage and apply the skills and resources of the creative community toward city goals.

#5 Washington – Arlington – Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV (pop. 4,941,735)

Arts Providers 35th Independent artists 198th Arts and culture employees 19th Arts and culture organizations 74th Arts, culture & entertainment firms 36th Arts Dollars 3rd Program revenue 17th Contributed revenue 1st Total expenses 1st Total compensation 2nd Government Support 23rd State arts dollars 125th State arts grants 176th Federal arts dollars 36th Federal arts grants 23rd

The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA- MD-WV, Metropolitan Division encompasses the District of Columbia and surrounding counties, including Prince George’s County in Maryland, and Fairfax and Arlington counties and the city of Alexandria in Virginia. Home to many world-class museums and a dynamic performing arts scene, the Washington, DC, region ranked 3rd overall in Arts Dollars and 1st or 2nd on three of the four sub-measures. Although there are many small and mid-sized arts and cultural organizations in every arts and culture sector, DC is especially rich in large organizations: the National Gallery of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, The Phillips Collection, the many Smithsonian Institution museums, the Renwick Gallery, Shakespeare Theater Company, Ford’s Theater, The National Theatre, the Warner Theatre, and Arena Stage.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts houses the Washington National Opera, National Symphony Orchestra, and its artistic constituents are many. Both Virginia’s Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts and Maryland’s Strathmore and Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts are large contributors to the region’s art scene. The DC Metro Division is a thriving hub of arts activity that is home to several of the nation’s arts service organizations, including the American Alliance of Museums, Association for Performing Arts Professionals, Americans for the Arts, Chorus America, and Dance/USA. Being the nation’s capital, it has an international population and a plethora of organizations that promote cultural and ethnic awareness. The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) provides grant funding, professional opportunities, education enrichment, and other programs and services to individuals and organizations in all communities within the District of Columbia. It is joined by the Arlington Commission for the Arts, the Alexandria Commission on the Arts, the Prince George’s Arts and Humanities Council, and the Arts Council of Fairfax County in granting funds and supporting programs that benefit the arts in the greater DC metropolitan area. Although Washington, DC is not a state, District of Columbia funding is reported as state funding through the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.

#6 Boston, MA (pop. 2,030,772)

Arts Providers 30th Independent artists 294th Arts and culture employees 26th Arts and culture organizations 35th Arts, culture & entertainment firms 16th Arts Dollars 6th Program revenue 4th Contributed revenue 25th Total expenses 7th Total compensation 6th Government Support 16th State arts dollars 157th State arts grants 86th Federal arts dollars 13th Federal arts grants 16th

The Boston, MA Metro Division’s arts community thrives on innovation and collaboration amongst organizations in the city’s arts sector and between arts organizations, neighboring communities, and other industries. From small organizations like The Record Company and Company One to mid-sized, award-winning organizations like the Huntington Theatre Company, to icons such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has a wide variety of arts programming and venues. ArtsBoston serves 175 arts and cultural organizations with research and audience-building programs. Now and There brings art out into the community, exhibiting public art in common gathering places. Iconic cultural institutions can be found all over the city, such as the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Children’s Museum, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Furthermore, the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture supports hundreds of organizations and serves around 1,500 artists annually through grants, technical assistance, and programs. Boston’s Percent for Art Program allocates 1% of the City’s annual capital borrowing budget to the commissioning of public art. Boston organizations rank in the top 1% for per capita program revenue, total expenses, and total compensation paid to those working in arts and culture. The city ranks in the top 3% for Arts Providers, with particular strength in the number of arts and culture employees, organizations, and entertainment firms per capita.

#7 Newark, NJ-PA (pop. 2,504,672)

Arts Providers 17th Independent artists 37th Arts and culture employees 48th Arts and culture organizations 116th Arts, culture & entertainment firms 9th Arts Dollars 14th Program revenue 15th Contributed revenue 27th Total expenses 16th Total compensation 11th Government Support 30th State arts dollars 44th State arts grants 346th Federal arts dollars 43rd Federal arts grants 29th

The Newark, NJ-PA, Metro Division spans six counties in New Jersey and Pike County, PA, and is part of the larger New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA, MSA. Newark is a desirable place for artists to live, as evidenced by the ranking on independent artists per capita in the top 4% of communities and easy access to employment, not only locally but also in nearby New York. Newark Arts is a nonprofit that “powers the arts” to transform lives of those who live in, work in, and visit Newark. The Newark Arts Education Roundtable comprises more than 88 partners in a cross-sector collaborative to ensure that all schoolchildren receive high quality, sequential arts education. Cultural anchor institutions include the world-class New Jersey Performing Arts Center, which recently announced that the Leon and Toby Cooperman Family Foundation has provided it with a gift of $20 million to expand and build a multipurpose education and community center. Already, NJPAC services more than 700,000 people per year. Other anchors include the Newark Museum, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Newark Public Library, the Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University-Newark (the world’s largest and most comprehensive library and archive of jazz and jazz-related materials), and NPR-affiliated jazz station WBGO-FM. The city is home to Audible.com, which has worked with more than 20,000 actors during the past 6 years, providing significant income to actors in the tri-state area.

A major new anchor is the 50,000-sq.-ft. Express Newark, a Rutgers University-Newark “collaboratory” in a renovated former department store. Express Newark engages community, artists, faculty, and staff to collaborate, experiment, and innovate in printmaking, photography, painting, video, and more. Local and international artists have created the country’s 2nd longest mural, the 1.39-mile Gateways to Newark: {Portraits} project. Striking structures and artwork by architect Sir David Adjaye and myriad artists encircle PSEG’s new Fairmount Heights Electric Switching Station. Artists have blanketed all five wards of the city with culturally rich murals. The city’s art scene is fortified by numerous galleries and studios, including Artfront Galleries, Barat Foundation, Gallery Aferro, Project for Empty Space, GlassRoots, Index Art Gallery, Newark Print Shop, Newark School of the Arts, NJIT’s Hillier College of Architecture and Design, Paul Robeson Galleries, and more. The GRAMMY Museum Experience – housed at Prudential Center, one of the top sports and entertainment arenas in the nation – is the only GRAMMY installation on the East Coast and boasts personal artifacts of Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, the Fugees, and more. Festivals abound, including the Portugal Day Parade, the 50,000-person Lincoln Park Festival, the biennial Dodge Poetry Festival (the largest poetry event in North America), the James Moody Jazz Festival, the Newark International Film Festival, and the Newark Black Film Festival. The four-day Newark Arts Festival, featuring 500 artists, draws 10,000 attendees and participants to 80 venues throughout the city. The mayor’s office is planning several public art installations: a sculpture in the newly completed Mulberry Commons near Newark Penn Station, a statue honoring former Mayor Kenneth Gibson in historic Lincoln Park, and a commemorative artwork honoring legendary singer Whitney Houston in the South Ward.

#8 Nashville – Davidson – Murfreesboro – Franklin, TN (pop. 1,930,961)

Arts Providers 14th Independent artists 19th Arts and culture employees 13th Arts and culture organizations 301st Arts, culture & entertainment firms 10th Arts Dollars 35th Program revenue 13th Contributed revenue 66th Total expenses 34th Total compensation 67th Government Support 51st State arts dollars 108th State arts grants 144th Federal arts dollars 70th Federal arts grants 96th

Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN, has long been known for its expansive music scene, but the emergence of world-class visual arts and fashion has put Nashville – Music City – on the map as an artistic and culturally rich destination. Nashville claims to have the largest concentration of songwriters in the world, with a strong presence of Americana-focused artisans and artists. These claims are evidenced and supported by the ranking on independent artists per capita, where Nashville is in the top 2% of communities.

There is robust public support for the arts at the local level, and individual philanthropists have helped propel growth of some of the larger cultural institutions in the last decade. Metro Arts is the arts and cultural division of the city of Nashville. It provides over $2.7 million in grant funding annually to organizations and projects that strengthen the creative workforce, increase creative and cultural participation, and establish vibrant, creative neighborhoods. To attract and nurture emerging artists in all genres, Nashville arts and business leaders partner on Periscope, an eight-week artist entrepreneur training hosted at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center (EC) that empowers working artists to see their vision through an entrepreneurial lens. In addition, Learning Lab is a public program that trains local artists to work with community partners on civic and social practice projects. The city is home to diverse artists and creators who contribute to neighborhood economies and create an exciting, authentic, creative city. Nashville is in the top 5% of all MSAs on overall Arts Dollars and the top 1% on Arts Providers, with particular strength in arts, culture, and entertainment firms per capita and the local employment that they provide, as evidenced by the ranking on these two sub-measures in the top 1%.

#9 Silver Spring – Frederick – Rockville, MD (pop. 1,308,215)

Arts Providers 45th Independent artists 169th Arts and culture employees 66th Arts and culture organizations 82nd Arts, culture & entertainment firms 37th Arts Dollars 11th Program revenue 40th Contributed revenue 9th Total expenses 11th Total compensation 9th Government Support 26th State arts dollars 41st State arts grants 167th Federal arts dollars 60th Federal arts grants 48th

The Silver Spring-Frederick-Rockville, MD, Metro Division, which encompasses Montgomery County and Frederick County, is part of the greater Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area. Being partly inside the Capital Beltway, its arts and culture vibrancy benefits from being a close suburb of DC, as evidenced by its 9th place rankings on contributed revenue and total compensation to arts and culture employees, as well as its 11th place ranking on total expenses.

In addition to close social and economic ties to DC’s arts and cultural offerings, Silver Spring is home to the American Film Institute’s AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center and the National Museum of Health and Medicine, as well as several entertainment, musical, and ethnic festivals. The most notable of these festivals are AFI DOCS and the Silver Spring Jazz Festival. Montgomery County’s Silver Spring, Bethesda and Wheaton Arts & Entertainment Districts include venues for live music, theater, independent films, visual arts, dance, and more. These designated districts spur arts vibrancy through tax credits for new construction or renovation of buildings that create live-work space for artists and/ or space for arts and entertainment enterprises, tax benefits for income derived from artistic work sold by qualifying residing artists, and a tax exemption for arts and entertainment enterprises and resident artists. Other notable area organizations include Strathmore, Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture, BlackRock Center for the Arts, Washington International Piano Festival, the Olney Theatre Center, Round House Theatre, and Imagination Stage. In Rockville, there is a civic ballet, civic chorus, and civic concert band. VisArts in Rockville provides arts education classes and camp programs, as well as gallery space for local artists. In the Frederick Arts and Entertainment District you will find the Delaplaine Arts Center, Griffin Art Center, Weinberg Center for the Arts, the annual Frederick Festival of the Arts and a vibrant independent artist scene in Downtown Frederick. This combined area has more than two dozen arts education organizations and two dozen dance companies. Frederick has a new public arts master plan and an innovative outdoor amphitheater and public arts project called Sky Stage, which has been recognized with an NEA Our Town grant. The Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County and the Frederick Arts Council foster environments where the arts may flourish through grantmaking, professional development, and capacity-building support programs.

#10 Cambridge – Newton – Framingham, MA (pop. 2,405,352)

Arts Providers 57th Independent artists 324th Arts and culture employees 95th Arts and culture organizations 43rd Arts, culture & entertainment firms 39th Arts Dollars 17th Program revenue 16th Contributed revenue 45th Total expenses 17th Total compensation 16th Government Support 33rd State arts dollars 251st State arts grants 117th Federal arts dollars 28th Federal arts grants 42nd

The Cambridge-Newton-Framingham, MA, Metro Division is located just across the Charles River from Boston, and is home to Cambridge’s state-designated Central Square Cultural District. Its arts and cultural community is inseparable from the dynamism of its world-class universities, Harvard and MIT. Organizations like American Repertory Theatre, the Harvard Art Museums, Harvard Museum of Natural History, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Semitic Museum, List Visual Arts Center, and MIT Museum are all university-based.

The City of Cambridge’s Percent-for-Art ensures that one percent of the construction costs on municipal capital investment is designated for use in developing site-responsive public artwork. This has resulted in the creation of more than 200 artworks in locations across the city. In fact, the City of Cambridge public art program represents the largest collection of contemporary public art in the New England region. In addition to exhibitions and educational programming presented in Gallery 344, Cambridge Arts stages high-profile events such as the Cambridge River Festival, featuring music, dance, theater, and visual art. The Cambridge Art Association has been committed to exhibiting and promoting the work of regional, New England artists for over 70 years. Cambridge is home to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. Merrimack Repertory Theatre and the Addison Gallery of American Art are well- respected organizations that reside in the Metro Division but outside of the density of Cambridge institutions. In addition, arts education organizations in Essex and Middlesex counties abound. This Metro Division is in the top 2% of communities in overall Arts Dollars and the top 3% in Government Support.

#11 Philadelphia, PA (pop. 2,148,889)

Arts Providers 78th Independent artists 394th Arts and culture employees 110th Arts and culture organizations 61st Arts, culture & entertainment firms 53rd Arts Dollars 9th Program revenue 18th Contributed revenue 18th Total expenses 12th Total compensation 8th Government Support 29th State arts dollars 69th State arts grants 272nd Federal arts dollars 40th Federal arts grants 26th

The convergence of history, multiculturalism, and creativity drives the arts and cultural sector of the Philadelphia, PA, Metro Division. Organizations of every size and discipline, representing myriad cultures and cultural traditions, serve the city’s diverse communities. From longstanding institutions like the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the African American Museum in Philadelphia, to community-oriented organizations like Taller Puertorriqueño, Fleisher Art Memorial, and the Village of Arts and Humanities, Philadelphia’s arts and culture sector thrives on its diversity and is rooted in the city’s history. Institutions such as the Philadelphia Clef Club for Jazz and Performing Arts, the Curtis Institute of Music, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts continue to nurture students into internationally renowned artistic talent. The city has three major performing arts centers: the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, the Kimmel Center, and the Mann Center for the Performing Arts. Dance and theater companies abound. Sites such as the Franklin Institute Science Museum, the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Museum of the American Revolution, and Independence Mall reveal that Philadelphia is not just bursting with culture, but also with history.

Philadelphia is also home to more than 11,000 acres of public space, making the city ideal for festivals such as FringeArts and PIFA, and the creation of site-specific works to engage residents where they live. The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance provides solid support in advocacy and audience engagement, to ensure ongoing support for the arts. Philadelphia is the location for one of the offices of SMU DataArts, tracking data and sharing knowledge about arts and culture nationally. The City of Philadelphia promotes equity and access to cultural experiences in every Philadelphia neighborhood through two means: funding the Philadelphia Cultural Fund and its grantmaking to enhance the cultural life and vitality of the city and its residents, and supporting the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy as it works with artists and organizations to present free, high quality arts programming to Philadelphians in their neighborhoods. Philadelphia ranks 9th in Arts Dollars and scores in the top 2% of cities on all Arts Dollar measures.

#12 Portland – Vancouver – Hillsboro, OR-WA (pop. 2,478,810)

Arts Providers 37th Independent artists 79th Arts and culture employees 74th Arts and culture organizations 83rd Arts, culture & entertainment firms 27th Arts Dollars 51st Program revenue 41st Contributed revenue 100th Total expenses 60th Total compensation 28th Government Support 79th State arts dollars 339th State arts grants 208th Federal arts dollars 72nd Federal arts grants 67th

The Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA, MSA continues to attract makers, creatives, artists, and designers with a stunning natural environment, excellent transportation system, relative affordability, liberal reputation, and passion for all things creative. Ensuring equitable access to arts experiences and arts education continues to be a priority. Since 2012, Portland residents have invested more than $63 million in support of arts education in schools and expanded arts access through a voter-approved $35 annual income tax. As a result, every K-5 school in Portland has at least one art, music, or dance teacher, and millions of dollars are invested annually in a wide variety of arts and culture organizations – from The August Wilson Red Door Project, a small theater company that brings community together to address racial inequities, to anchor institutions like the Portland Art Museum, which serves more than 350,000 visitors annually.

This trend is evidenced by the position of this MSA among the top 10% of communities for almost all sub-measures of both Arts Providers and Arts Dollars. Portland has a Creative Laureate who acts as an ambassador for the city’s arts and culture community and developed a 24-point plan to address the decline of affordable arts spaces in this rapidly growing city. Portland’5 Centers for the Arts consists of five venues that provide over 1,000 music, theater, dance, and lecture performances each year and serve as a home for resident companies like the Oregon Symphony, Portland Opera, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Oregon Children’s Theatre, and Portland Youth Philharmonic. The Regional Arts & Culture Council, an independent nonprofit local arts agency, stewards the city’s and region’s investments in arts and culture; these are clearly integral to the region’s economy and quality of life, as evidenced also by the ranking of the MSA on Government Support in the top 8%.

#13 New Orleans – Metairie, LA (pop. 1,270,399)

Arts Providers 62nd Independent artists 147th Arts and culture employees 114th Arts and culture organizations 195th Arts, culture & entertainment firms 22nd Arts Dollars 16th Program revenue 14th Contributed revenue 22nd Total expenses 18th Total compensation 30th Government Support 55th State arts dollars 350th State arts grants 166th Federal arts dollars 39th Federal arts grants 52nd

The New Orleans-Metairie, LA, arts community is rooted in its multicultural history, with French, Spanish, African, Cajun/Acadian, and Caribbean influences, among others. This diversity, rich artistic and cultural traditions, and a post-Katrina wave of energy have turned New Orleans into something truly unique. It is the birthplace of jazz and continues to earn its reputation for prominence in jazz and funk music with an abundance of musicians, an explosion of music clubs, the annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the New Orleans Jazz Museum at the Old U.S. Mint, and a plethora of jazz education available through entities such as the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation. It ranks 3rd in the country on music nonprofits per capita. New Orleans attracts artists from all over the world, but it is a city that favors its local artists. Local musicians, some of whom have multi-generational connections, often pull huge audiences from the Greater New Orleans community. The visual arts in New Orleans share the same mixture of cultural influences. There are galleries scattered throughout the city, with a small concentration in the Warehouse Arts District and French Quarter.

In the past decade, artist-run collectives have made a home along St. Claude Avenue. The city is also home to the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Contemporary Arts Center, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Ashé Cultural Arts Center, World War II Museum, New Orleans Ballet Association, Junebug Productions, New Orleans Opera Association, Southern Rep Theatre, the McKenna Museum of African American Art, and The Louisiana Philharmonic. Arts Council New Orleans developed LUNA Fête in 2014, a free week-long festival of contemporary art, light, and technology in which local and international artists are commissioned to create large-scale public installations along Lafayette Street in the heart of downtown. The Council also hosts Arts Market New Orleans, an open-air artwork marketplace for New Orleans artists, and has over 400 art sites across the city. New Orleans is home to the National Performance Network, a national organization supporting artists in the creation and touring of contemporary performing and visual arts. New Orleans ranks in the top 7% of communities on overall Arts Providers, Arts Dollars, and Government Support. It is interesting to note that New Orleans achieves its rank of #13 despite having greater socioeconomic challenges than all other Large MSAs.

#14 Seattle – Bellevue – Everett, WA (pop. 3,048,064)

Arts Providers 38th Independent artists 98th Arts and culture employees 56th Arts and culture organizations 120th Arts, culture & entertainment firms 17th Arts Dollars 37th Program revenue 27th Contributed revenue 59th Total expenses 40th Total compensation 38th Government Support 175th State arts dollars 704th State arts grants 474th Federal arts dollars 67th Federal arts grants 47th

Art is viewed as essential in Seattle, WA, MSA, and it is integrated into daily life. Whether as artist-designed manhole covers and public art for new construction, or the Seattle Department of Transportation’s official “Art Plan,” bringing beauty and art to the streets of Seattle is high priority for city officials. It has large, established institutions that tend to be clustered in two neighborhoods: Downtown and the Seattle Center. Seattle has a large ecosystem of smaller arts organizations that exist in every genre, in just about every neighborhood, and in three official arts and cultural districts: Capitol Hill, Central Area, and Uptown. Seattle boasts more than 140 producing theater companies. It has been recognized nationally and internationally for leadership and innovation in theater, music, glass art, and literary arts. It is one of only a handful of U.S. cities to have a top-tier symphony, ballet, and opera, and it has been designated a City of Literature in UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network. The City’s Office of Arts & Culture is a cabinet-level department that is supported by a dedicated revenue stream and, at the county level, 4Culture provides critical funding for the arts, public art, heritage, and historic preservation. Seattle citizens use art and culture to preserve the environment as well, through festivals and art installations dedicated to appreciating and saving Seattle’s natural beauty. Innovative organizations like Shunpike provide emerging, independent artists and small arts organizations with support in the form of critical services, resources, and opportunities to create success. The Office of Arts & Culture recently intensified its commitment to racial equity and social justice; it offered intensive basic training to artists ready to translate their studio or gallery experience into the public realm through “Public Art Boot Camp;" and its CityArtist program continues to support the work of Seattle-based individual artists and curators. Seattle is ranked in the top 4% of communities on Arts Providers and Arts Dollars, and nearly all of its sub-measures in these two areas are well within the top 10% of all cities. Despite substantial city support and programs that drive the arts and Seattle being among the top 7% of markets for federal arts dollars, per capita state funding in Washington is among the lowest in the nation.

#15 Oakland – Hayward – Berkeley, CA (pop. 2,816,968)

Arts Providers 50th Independent artists 188th Arts and culture employees 117th Arts and culture organizations 59th Arts, culture & entertainment firms 23rd Arts Dollars 29th Program revenue 37th Contributed revenue 31st Total expenses 39th Total compensation 20th Government Support 105th State arts dollars 502nd State arts grants 462nd Federal arts dollars 76th Federal arts grants 27th

The Oakland-Hayward-Berkeley, CA, MSA is a dynamic hub of arts and culture. At the geographic center of the Bay, Oakland boasts over 30 art galleries and performing art venues; invests in public art, including innovative light-based public art installations; and has a “Public Art for Private Development” ordinance that contributes to this city’s rich visual culture. Oakland, Hayward and Berkeley have designated Art Districts located downtown, providing clusters of theater, music, dance, and visual arts, including the Hayward Arts Council and Sun Gallery in Hayward, and Tony and Grammy award-winning Berkeley Repertory Theater, Freight & Salvage, and Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) in Berkeley. In Oakland, the Black Arts Movement Cultural District is anchored by the Malonga Casquelourd Center – home to Oakland’s African Diaspora dance community and the African American Museum & Library. Other notable arts and cultural organizations abound in this MSA, including the Oakland Museum of California, Oakland East Bay Symphony, Museum of Children’s Art in Oakland, Kala Art Institute, Aurora Theatre Company, Shotgun Players, Cal Performances, and the Sawtooth Building in Berkeley. The area is also home to many arts-related festivals and events such as the Bay Area Book Festival in downtown Berkeley, Oakland Art Murmur galleries event, and Art & Soul. Berkeley, in particular, is known nationwide for its excellence in music. The California Jazz Conservatory, which offers many public performances, is the only accredited jazz school in the nation. Berkeley is also known for its diversity in cultural organizations, such as Gamelan Sekar Jaya (GSJ), an internationally acclaimed performing arts troupe specializing in Balinese gamelan. This MSA is in the top 4% of communities or better on every Arts Dollar measure and it is in the top 3% of markets that attract federal arts grants.

#16 Nassau County – Suffolk County, NY (pop. 2,839,436)

Arts Providers 40th Independent artists 42nd Arts and culture employees 78th Arts and culture organizations 267th Arts, culture & entertainment firms 20th Arts Dollars 62nd Program revenue 61st Contributed revenue 83rd Total expenses 68th Total compensation 47th Government Support 170th State arts dollars 419th State arts grants 529th Federal arts dollars 103rd Federal arts grants 90th

NEW COMMUNITY The Nassau County-Suffolk County, NY, MSA is comprised of the two counties of Long Island that fall outside of New York City’s five boroughs. From the Sagamore Hill National Historic Site to the Parrish Art Museum in Watermill, Long Island’s history is rich and filled with the tales of many famous Americans who have called the island home. It is rich in arts venues and vibrant in cultural life. Long Island’s more than 100 museums include the Nassau County Museum of Art, Heckscher Museum, Parrish Art Museum, Islip Art Museum, the Cradle of Aviation Museum, and the Long Island Museum of American Art, History and Carriages. Moreover, many townships have their own local art museum in addition to a variety of galleries. The Gold Coast region is known for its many mansions and arboretums immortalized by F. Scott Fitzgerald in his classic novel The Great Gatsby. Today Long Island continues to attract artists as evidenced by its ranking in the top 4% of communities on independent artists per capita, its esteemed artist residency programs at Watermill Center and Fire Island, and its long roster of Montauk Artists’ Association members. Gateway Playhouse, Bay Street Theater, Tilles Center for the Performing Arts, Staller Center for the Performing Arts, and many community theaters house ballet, classical music, spoken word art, and theatrical productions. Guild Hall in East Hampton is one of the United States’ first multidisciplinary cultural institutions. In 2017, a consortium of 10 Long Island arts councils came together to increase the collaboration, synergy, and exchange of ideas among the area’s communities.

#17 Austin – Round Rock, TX (pop. 2,168,316)

Arts Providers 51st Independent artists 76th Arts and culture employees 122nd Arts and culture organizations 134th Arts, culture & entertainment firms 40th Arts Dollars 81st Program revenue 69th Contributed revenue 121st Total expenses 93rd Total compensation 84th Government Support 18th State arts dollars 191st State arts grants 29th Federal arts dollars 41st Federal arts grants 35th

While Austin-Round Rock, TX may be well known for its music and filmmaking scenes, it also has a robust, multifaceted arts scene marked by a collaborative ethos that includes a cutting-edge theatre community, a burgeoning visual arts scene, and emerging art/tech intersections. This is also evidenced by the fact that it ranks within the top 5% of communities on Arts Providers, with particular strength in independent artists and arts, culture, and entertainment firms. Billed as the “Live Music Capital of the World,” Austin has more than 250 live venues that fill the city with music every night of the week and is a magnet for young musicians and audiences. Austin is also a festival town with long-running annual events such as Austin City Limits, South by Southwest, Austin Film Festival, Fusebox Festival, Texas Book Festival, and cultural celebrations like Dia de los Muertos. Austin’s experimental theatre may be due in part to the widely regarded Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas (UT), with its focus on playwriting and screenwriting, as well as innovative productions by the Rude Mechs collective, The Vortex theater, and by Proyecto Teatro, which presents all programming entirely in Spanish. Museums like UT’s Blanton Museum of Art, one of the largest university art museums in the U.S., and The Contemporary Austin, Mexic-Arte Museum (the Official Mexican and Mexican American Museum in the Southwest), and the East Austin Studio Tour (E.A.S.T.), among others, have nurtured the rising visual arts scene. While Austin is home to the Long Center for the Performing Arts with its resident companies Austin Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Austin, and Austin Lyric Opera, the city is also home to cultural facilities that serve as gathering places for the African American, Latinx, and Asian communities. Despite Austin being the 11th largest city in the nation, the majority of arts organizations are small; however, the dynamism of the city’s arts organizations is reflected in the attraction of high numbers of state and federal government grants. Austin ranks in the top 2% of communities on Government Support, and within the top 4% on three out of four sub-measures. The Cultural Arts Division of the City’s Economic Development Department provides leadership and management for Austin’s cultural arts programs and for the economic development of arts and cultural industries. With Austin’s strength also in technology, it is not surprising to learn that Austin has achieved the distinction of being the first (and only) city in the U.S. to receive a City of Media Arts designation within UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network.

#18 Chicago – Naperville – Arlington Heights, IL (pop. 7,288,849)

Arts Providers 70th Independent artists 129th Arts and culture employees 88th Arts and culture organizations 176th Arts, culture & entertainment firms 58th Arts Dollars 23rd Program revenue 22nd Contributed revenue 56th Total expenses 25th Total compensation 17th Government Support 136th State arts dollars 489th State arts grants 367th Federal arts dollars 95th Federal arts grants 80th

The Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights, IL, Metro Division is home to world-class arts and cultural organizations, from the Art Institute of Chicago and the Field Museum of Natural History to Hubbard Street Dance and The Joffrey Ballet to the National Museum of Mexican Art and Black Ensemble Theater. There are over 250 theater companies in Chicago, from non-union storefronts to an unprecedented five Tony Award-winning regional theatre companies: Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Victory Gardens Theater in Lincoln Park; the Goodman Theatre in the Loop; the Chicago Shakespeare Theater at Navy Pier; and Lookingglass Theatre Company on the Magnificent Mile. Broadway in Chicago, one of the largest commercial touring houses in the country, offers Broadway-style entertainment at five theaters.

Chicago’s theater community spawned modern improvisational theaters, including now-legendary The Second City. Classical offerings include the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Opera Theater, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Chicago Sinfonietta. Other live-music genres that are part of the cultural heritage include Chicago blues, soul, jazz, gospel, and Chicago house. The city is the site of an influential hip-hop scene and has launched new styles such as Chicago juke and footwork. Through the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), the city provides vital support to the arts, from individual and organizational grants to capacity-building programs, residencies, and performance opportunities. DCASE is also known for its role in producing a number of free, citywide music and cultural festivals that draw international audiences. The Chicago Cultural Alliance works to strengthen ethnic museums and cultural centers located across Chicago neighborhoods. There is strong local public and foundation arts support, and several non-arts agencies have a long tradition of advancing the arts across Chicago’s neighborhoods, including cultural centers and arts residency programs in the city’s 80 neighborhood branch libraries and 580 parks. Numerous universities contribute to Chicago’s arts scene as well. Providing top education and training in the arts and media makes Chicago a magnet for young talent. Important outdoor public art abounds, providing free access to works from both established masters and contemporary street artists. Chicago also is the headquarters for numerous government advocacy and support agencies, including Arts Alliance Illinois and the Illinois Arts Council Agency. The Chicago Metro Division ranks in the top 7% of communities on overall Arts Providers and in the top 2% on overall Arts Dollars, with particular strength in program revenue, total expenses, and total compensation per capita.

#19 Cleveland – Elyria, OH (pop. 2,057,009)

Arts Providers 109th Independent artists 461st Arts and culture employees 94th Arts and culture organizations 119th Arts, culture & entertainment firms 92nd Arts Dollars 15th Program revenue 8th Contributed revenue 46th Total expenses 13th Total compensation 13th Government Support 52nd State arts dollars 29th State arts grants 186th Federal arts dollars 115th Federal arts grants 104th

For over a century, the Cleveland-Elyria, OH, MSA has been home to a historic, nationally recognized arts and cultural community. Many of these longstanding arts and cultural treasures established a legacy during the city’s economic and industrial prime. Several of these anchor institutions include the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Playhouse Square, and Karamu House, which is the country’s oldest African American theatre. These anchor institutions exist in the midst of high-quality, arts-based educational institutions, including Oberlin College, Baldwin Wallace University, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Cleveland Institute of Art.

There are multiple thriving arts districts in the Cleveland area. Residents and visitors can access University Circle and Waterloo arts districts on the east side, Playhouse Square theater district centrally, and Gordon Square arts district on the west side. Organizations and collectives throughout these districts include GroundWorks Dance Theater, Zygote Press, Twelve Literary Arts, Praxis Fiber Workshop, Maelstrom Collaborative Arts, Art House, Inc., Cleveland Public Theater, and SPACES, a resource and public forum for artists who explore and experiment. Music has been and still is a huge part of Cleveland’s cultural fabric. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is seated downtown and many music artists, live music clubs, and music educational institutions call the city home. Local support is strong, fueled by a cigarette excise tax that created Cuyahoga Arts & Culture in 2006 and by the City of Cleveland’s Percent for Art program that increases public artworks, particularly in the public transportation areas. The arts community is also starting to closely examine how racial inequities impact the sector. Funders and arts nonprofits are participating in ongoing racial equity training and beginning to implement organizational changes to ensure that their funding and artistic work benefits all local residents. There are a wide variety of arts festivals and events annually in Cleveland, including the most recent additions of FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art and the InCuya Music Festival in 2018. There have been growing investments in the writing community, as well as an effort to unite the city’s writers, including Cleveland Book Week, the development of Literary Cleveland, and the Brews + Prose monthly readings. Cleveland is also home to the nationally acclaimed Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. Given this support base, it is no surprise that Cleveland ranks in the top 2% of all communities on overall Arts Dollars, with particular strength in program revenue.

#20 Denver – Aurora – Lakewood, CO (pop. 2,932,415)

Arts Providers 66th Independent artists 62nd Arts and culture employees 123rd Arts and culture organizations 256th Arts, culture & entertainment firms 52nd Arts Dollars 49th Program revenue 46th Contributed revenue 62nd Total expenses 46th Total compensation 58th Government Support 149th State arts dollars 480th State arts grants 401st Federal arts dollars 44th Federal arts grants 175th

RETURNING FROM 2017 The arts and cultural landscape in the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO, MSA is rich and diverse, encompassing nonprofit organizations, creative businesses, and individual artists. There are large renowned museums and institutions, such as Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Denver Art Museum, Denver Center for Performing Arts, and Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. These institutions live alongside over 90 small and mid-sized organizations that are well known for their exemplary artistic work and active engagement with diverse communities, such as the Five Points Jazz Festival, the Su Teatro Cultural & Performing Arts Center, Access Gallery, and many others. The Scientific & Cultural Facilities District (SCFD), which distributes funds from a 1/10 of 1% sales and use tax to cultural facilities throughout the MSA, reflects the residents’ commitment to supporting arts, cultural, and scientific organizations. The arts and cultural districts supported by SCFD reflect the strength of the artistic and creative sector, as each one of them has grown organically rather than been developed by the city. The local arts agency, Denver Arts & Venues, recognizes the role the arts play in building strong communities and creating social change, and supports and encourages artistic collaborations. Its P.S. You Are Here program is a citywide creative placemaking and neighborhood revitalization program that cultivates collaborative, community-led outdoor projects in Denver’s public spaces.

The community is strong in a variety of disciplines including the spoken word, theatre, music, and visual arts, as well as dance, film, and other arts and cultural disciplines that reflect Denver’s history and entrepreneurial spirit. In particular, musicians have been attracted to living in the Mile-High City due to the vibrancy of the field, and artists in general – especially Millennials (the largest group moving to the city) – are choosing Denver as their home where they can build their artistic talents and professional craft as well as lead a lifestyle that complements their passions. There is robust support from individual donors and strong local government support for the arts, with special attention focused on accessibility and inclusion. Robust support is manifested in Denver’s ranking within the top 7% of communities on all Arts Dollar measures and federal arts dollars.