slides: How Does Worcester Rank as an Artistic City

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

GoLocalWorcester News Team

Worcester has always been known as a city that celebrates it support for the arts. The industrialists of the 19th and 20th Century made large donations to create collections like the Worcester Art Museum, the Higgins Armory and Mechanic's Hall, but a new ranking raises questions if Worcester is holding its place as a regional leader in the arts.

SEE THE RANKINGS OF ALL THE MID-SIZED NEW ENGLAND CITIES BELOW

"These days there are plenty of mid-sized towns that have vibrant art scenes," claims the digital lifestyle site Gogobot who ranked 200 mid-sized cities and Worcester did not fair well in their analysis.

The Worcester Art Museum (WAM), which has 38,000 pieces in its collection and a $20 million budget to make acquisitions is a point of pride in Central Massachusetts. The museum has a diverse collection and recently took over the historic collection of the Higgins Armory after that museum was shuttered.

Today, WAM has an edowment over $103 million according to their last report and offers a remarkable collection of pieces -- one of the best art museums outside of a major city in America.

But, this national ranking found that Worcester ranked poorly in a number of categories including the lack of art supply stores, few art galleries and a shortage of performing art facilities.

Richmond, Virgina was ranked number one in America. Disappointing was Worcester's rank #132 in the United States our of 200 mid-sized cities. Worcester finished 3 places behind Hartford, Connecticut and 100 places behind Providence, Rhode Island.

METHODOLOGY

The website selected which cities fall under the “mid-sized” category. The site selected cities with populations ranked 101 to 300 and then it quantified the artistic communities in those cities using these metrics:

Number of museums – When people value art and want to ensure it is preserved and presented for generations to come they build museums.
Number of art galleries – Galleries allow art enthusiasts to see new work and help artists earn a living.
Number of art schools – A great way to find new and upcoming artists is to go where they are practicing their craft.
Number of art supply stores – Where you find paint you’re likely to find painters.
Number of performing arts venues – Performance artists, musicians, and actors need somewhere to showcase their talents.

The site assigned points to all 200 cities based on these 6 categories and added them up to find the 10 highest scoring and most artistic cities

Related Slideshow: The Most Artistic New England Cities

Gogobot ranked 200 Mid-sized cities as to how artisitic each city is -- ranking for a range of factors. Richmond, Virginia came out number 1 in the U.S. See how all the mid-sized New England cities ranked.