The More Things Change...

This detailed report on the location of artists, musicians, dancers, designers and the like in 1970 shows the dominance of NYC, LA, San Francisco among other city-regions and points to the role growing role of  Nashville as a musical center.  These locations have been pretty "sticky" since 1970. Talk about "path dependence."  Especially interesting since the real spark for for the creative economy dates from around 1980. Between 1980 and 2005, some 25 million new jobs in creative occupations are created, and the share of creative occupations jumps from less than 20 to more than 30 percent. The artistic centers of 1970  read like a who's who of today's creative city-regions.  What might be going on here? Perhaps these artistically creative locations sparked earlier seedbed and incubation conditions (openness to new ideas, low barriers to entry, high tolerance for self-expression) which helped shape ecosystems that could attract and harness creative economic energy in the form of commercial innovation and the formation of new entrepreneurial firms. Or, perhaps there is something deeper, more structural going on in these locations which produced both.

 Click here for the report (hat tip: Scott Jackson).  Any thoughts?