Tijuana’s Art Scene, Artist’s Migration

Abstract

This paper is a research proposal aimed at answering the question of why artists from other Mexican cities or from abroad decides to move to Tijuana, a city that despite offering one of the most attractive artistic scenes in México, is also one of the most dangerous ones. Among the several factors that can explain this social phenomenon are: the closeness to the United Sates, the ideological and aesthetic style of the creative scene, the art programs that the different universities and institutions offer, or even the city itself. The goal of this exploratory research is to find out which of these, if not others, play a significant role. A qualitative study will be conducted and during the documentation stage there will be observation and interviews in order to help identify and discover the most relevant trends. Meanwhile, a snowball sampling method will be used to find the subjects of this study. In addition, the subjects will include artists not from Tijuana, artists from Tijuana, artists that have not left their cities, and owners of galleries and cultural/ educational institutions.