As entrepreneurs and small businesses, artists generate direct economic activity. Each weekendthroughout the fall, Bosto's successful Open Studios program attracts visitors to neighborhoods throughout the city. Open Studios Weekend makes for good business and a better city. In the recent past, parts of the city that artists have used for twenty years or more have begun to attract commercial and residential development. While generally positive, this trend has resulted in rising real estate prices that jeopardize the ability of artists to remain in the very neighborhoods they helped revitalize. A closer look at this threat has revealed that, while Boston is home to more than 2,000 artist studios, fewer than 300 of these studios are permanently dedicated to artist use.

Keeping Boston's Creative Capital quantifies what kind of space artists need, as well as what they can afford to pay for that space. This data will allow the City of Boston, the BRA and developers of real estate better understand and respond to the needs and opportunities present in our vibrant artist community.