The 6th Floor Blog: Can You Be Creative in Berlin?

In his Riff in the magazine's Nov. 25 issue, Robert F. Coleman writes about his stint as a musician in Berlin. Instead of flourishing in a city many consider a "creative mecca," he became one of the many people who flock to Berlin to pursue their art, only to realize months later that they haven't produced a single piece of work. This motivated several of our readers to respond in disagreement, saying that it is possible to be a productive artist in Berlin and avoid all the partying — and laziness — associated with so-called "creative tourists."

One Berlin transplant speculated that some artists who come from afar "stay in the tourist-party 'ghetto' " because they are "unwilling to learn German." A native Berliner said, "Most of my friends are musicians who are working continuously on their projects and are pretty successful."

Those artists who wrote in with their Berlin success stories were:

Do you think Berlin saps creative energy? Or is it still a good place to be an artist? Write in the comments section with your own stories of the creative life in Berlin.