Berlin from about 1995 to 2015 would probably have been that place. Closest thing today might be Marfa, Texas, which obviously is more of a town than a city.
Definitely, but there are a good many people in general that probably consider a small rural town in the middle of nowhere to be a nonstarter in the first place.
I love Marfa, and have visited multiple times. That said, it's definitely a big sacrifice for someone to take a residency there because it's the type of small rural town that doesn't even have a 24 hour pharmacy or proper emergency care without a hour+ drive to a larger nearby town. It's definitely on the fringes of what's acceptable, so much so that it's genuinely surprising when you visit how much of an art enclave it is.
Marfa was able to draw many creatives in part because foundations (like the Lannan Foundation for writers) paid well for them to spend a season or a year there.
