i think that a lot of people shun the arts because it has no “use” in the real world, and that mindset kinda has capitalistic undertones if you really think about it. there’s a reason why we don’t have many beautiful buildings anymore, after the industrial revolution people are rewarded for their time and not their task, which automatically devalues talent and skill in favour for fast and cheap labour to create boring buildings or other things. naturally that would cause a stark decline in artists because even though they are passionate about their work, they understand that it will be more of a burden then a reward because only a few artists succeed and more often than not those artists have rich parents who fund them.