Great article, and the comments on the original post at Creative Time Reports are vibrant as well. People there are making the point that even the hipster cities of Portland OR and Austin TX are getting too expensive and cannot expand to meet their new roles.

This leads me to my pitch on behalf of an upcoming art city: Los Angeles. Once you've finished laughing, I'll tell you:

1) Rents are lower. Some of the smaller cities within LA County, such as West Hollywood, have rent stabilization.

2) Other basic expenses are also lower. Electric rates are 40% of those in east coast cities. Heat is cheap because you rarely have to use it. Humidity is usually 40% , so you can get away with running fans instead of air conditioners for all but one month of the year (and oddly, that month is late August into September). Fruits and vegetables are cheap because they're grown about two hours away then shipped through here on the way to the rest of the country.

3) There is a lot of loft and art space available in transit-friendly locations.

4) The transit is improving, especially if you don't live on the west side.

5) The art scene is amazing: Art is Shit, another Providence escapee, Lucky Bunny, tons of Retna pieces, lots of galleries...

You can live as an artist here and have a taco-laden life.