The difficulty of pursuing an artistic career often doesn’t stem from the artist’s lack of willpower, but from the structure that supports the economy all over the world.
Governments, and organizations of all kinds are profit-oriented, more likely to back thriving industries than to bet on an individual’s unfolding talent.
It’s rather well known that the dreams of artists are often left unfulfilled as they rarely get the required support. The lack of immediate profit makes it almost impossible for artists to stay afloat alone with their artistic pursuits, or until the needed support from the government and other sources of public funding knocks on their door.
The Viewpoint on Art
Why is art funding so problematic? While governments dedicate certain amounts of money each year to the artistic pursuits of young creators, oftentimes this amount of money isn’t sufficient for the art sector to flourish. That goes in hand with recent cuts on arts education that has impacted the future of artists everywhere, and more recently all over the UK.
This is why the dreams of artists have come to rely on private funds and organizations that give out the required financial support. These foundations, however, act within national borders, confirming that such grants are available only to those living in countries whose societies deem art an important element to national development.
Now, consider the less affluent countries, whose governments do not have enough funds to spare for artists. Countries with a low GDP do not have sufficient funding available to invest in the cultural heritage that art provides.
Unfavorable Circumstances
The perspective of the society on art funding can also be another drawback for the dreams of artists to get fulfilled, as art isn’t viewed as a necessity by many societies. After all, the place where individuals are born impacts the way their careers might unfold and the way they collectively appreciate some fields over others.
For instance, it is much easier to breakthrough with art in places like Vienna or Paris, where some of the most prominent artistic figures gathered and made their way up as opposed to places like Ecuador or Uganda.
With the allocation of national resources, the circumstances of artistic development can be traced back to the family of the artist, too. A family with a high income, or with artistic ties, makes it easier to support an artist, than a family that prefers to have their child on a set path to becoming an engineer, doctor, or scientist.
Aspiring to be an artist can be taboo in some social groups so much so that tutorials about telling your family that you want to become an artist have been made available across the internet.
Limited Development Possibilities
The current worldwide landscape has made the situation even harder for aspiring and established artists, with art and concert venues shut down.
While arts funding might be almost non-existent in the pandemic world, some artists were fortunate to receive monetary support from the government, as it happened in Germany.
Although the funds were not enough to fully satisfy the dreams of artists, this has been an exceptional case compared to most countries, which struggled with allocating funding not only in the art industry but in many other industries, too.
As a result, creatives have had to look for employment out of their area of expertise. Many of them have turned to overlapping industries like marketing, with the less fortunate ones having to abandon their professional aspirations for a job that hardly aligns with their abilities.
The dreams of artists have been difficult to maintain, and a lot of them have had to either explore odd jobs or undersell their artwork to rise up in the search algorithm of popular freelancing sites like Fiverr.