Sometimes they don't just move. Sometimes the arts scene and communities are just dissolved and they "suck it up" and get a "real job" like... [from personal experience] get a real estate license so they can pay the bills and end up settling down.
The savvy ones scrounged up enough to buy property and either hold out their with less of a community, or they sell and move and just do their own thing.
In Ontario, there isn't a cheaper place for quite an expanse. Hamilton or other smaller cities are a bit of the last holdouts. But because of some of the exodus from Toronto (and like cities) they are being bought up and redeveloped as well.
Some escape to small towns, but those usually stay small and grow sleepy even though they're interesting places.
I've always worked a day job, even at my most active, so I've kind of had one foot in both worlds.
Cities were attractive because people were close together—there was variety, word could get around. They were vivacious. It would be terrible to see that completely snuffed out.
