Arts town

An arts town (also called a arts city, or with art singular) is a settlement that is dedicated to and recognized as having art as a central feature to its cultural identity. Arts towns generate a good portion of their economy, their existence, and their tourism from establishing a culture of the arts. By definition, a disproportionately large number of the citizens in these towns are involved in the arts.

Santa Fe, in New Mexico, is an example of an arts city in the United States, with over 5,000 artists living within city limits, year round arts events, art institutions including 10 museums and 100 galleries, as well as classes, educational seminars, and conferences. Further towns of art, as the Europeans designate them, include such internationally famous cities such as Florence, in Tuscany, Italy, the heritage home of renaissance art and of Michelangelo and Leonardo.

The term similarly is used for centers for arts festivals like Tanglewood or such small towns as Nelsonville, Ohio, that have dedicated themselves to an artistic identity based on traditional ceramics and folk-art centered on an arts oriented town square.