Photo of local artist Eric Johnson's studio by Marshall Astor - Food Pornographer via Flickr

"Mom, Dad...I want to be an artist."

For Angelenos, this declaration may not need to be met with as much cliched approbation, in light of a National Endowment for the Arts report that lists greater Los Angeles "as the urban center with the most working artists and California is the top state by the same measure," according to today's LA Times. We have an impressive 140,620 working artists here, ranking us above art-centric metropolises such as NYC (although if we're talking percentages, we come in under San Francisco and Santa Fe, NM).

Support some of your local working artists tonight by hitting the monthly Downtown Artwalk. Last month we gave you 7 reasons to go, so the NEA report makes that 8 now. Or, actually 9, counting the new snazzy shuttle bus.