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Ann Arbor named one of the most arts-vibrant cities in the United States

2021 Ann Arbor Art Fair visitors on State Street. (Meredith Bruckner, Sarah Parlette, WDIV)

ANN ARBOR – Tree Town has been named one of the top 10 most arts-vibrant medium-sized cities on SMU DataArts’ 2022 Arts Vibrancy Index Report.

This is the city’s first time on the annual report, which hasn’t been published since 2020.

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Ann Arbor is known for its celebration of and connection to the arts through its numerous galleries, year-round art-based events and its massive, summertime Ann Arbor Art Fair.

To find its rankings, SMU DataArts looked at factors like arts and culture organizations and employees, independent artists, federal and state-level grants and money awarded, arts program revenues and total expenses.

The top 40 communities across the United States were then divided based on population: large, medium and small. Medium-sized communities, like Ann Arbor, have between 100,000 and 1,000,000 people.

Take a look at the full methodology.

These are the 10 most arts-vibrant medium communities in the US:

• Ann Arbor, Michigan

• Boulder, Colorado

• Bozeman, Montana

• Des Moines-West Des Moines, Iowa

• Ithaca, New York

• Kalamazoo-Portage, Michigan

• Missoula, Montana

• Pittsfield, Massachusetts

• San Rafael, California

• Santa Fe, New Mexico

Find the full 2022 Arts Vibrancy Report here.


About the Author
Sarah Parlette headshot

Sarah has worked for WDIV since June 2018. She covers community events, good eats and small businesses in Ann Arbor and has a Master's degree in Applied Linguistics from Grand Valley State University.

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