People Twitter @sh.itjust.works Catoblepas @lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 days ago

No puppies were harmed in this analogy

Alt text: a post from @lolennui.bsky.social that says: Once my German friend asked what creative people do without arts grants and other support in the US and I felt like a parent trying to explain to their kid that the puppies can die sometimes

45 comments

If you have some free time and aren't easily depressed, go ahead and look up the backgrounds of your favorite, recently ascendant artists. Many, if not most of them come from privileged backgrounds, have wealthy spouses, trust funds, or familial industry connections.

And while I personally don't think that such advantages necessarily diminish the importance of their art, just think of how much more potentially moving and profound work we'll never see just because the people who should be making it never got chance to develop, since they've been too busy just trying to keep a roof over their heads.
- I've thought this for a long time about other things. it's truly a shame.
  
  We could have cured cancer years ago but the scientist grew up poor and ended up working the graveyard shifts in the mines.
- More than that, you'd get better diversity in motifs and techniques if you expand the population base to a representation of society.
- This is how societies fall. Everyone just trying to keep a roof above their heads.
  
  I was a very talented artist and musician growing up and all through high school, from a nice poor family.
  
  Had to join the army and become an engineer, no trust fund to write books and make music. Luckily at this stage in my life both are possible in my free time, but wished I could do other things than engineer.
- Well also because of this we only see a very small representative sample with the art that does end up making it out into the open.
- If you want to see art though you can just ask a computer to make it for you
  
  Boooo, that will never compare to the personal satisfaction of honing a craft.
  
  Edit: machine generation can be fun but I promise it's not as fulfilling as finding something you love doing purely for the sake of it and watching your progress over years.
  
  And where did that computer get the artwork it pieced together?
They have seen what happens when you don't let an aspiring artist grow professionally, and perhaps continue their education, for instance, in a place like the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts
- Nah lmao Adolf was a talentless hack. The man had absolutely no understanding of angles. Have you seen his paintings? They suck.
  
  Nobody falls out of the crib painting Rembrandts. Maybe if he was allowed to go to school it would have been different.
- To this day Germans are afraid of all painters because these guys are just another Holocaust waiting to happen.
  
  ... Is what you are saying. Not very funny.
  
  Not very funny
  
  I respectfully disagree
- Yes, Germans were Nazis. A round of applause for rehashing the joke for the billionth time.
  
  I didn't see it a "Germans were nazis" joke as much as a "Every country has its crazies, Germans do now care for theirs" joke.
  
  perhaps you're right, too predictable. Am I the baddie?
  
  I'm not sure it was a joke.
  
  You got my upvote! Fuck the reddit trope of constantly bringing the same punchline over and over and expecting gold or whatever.
  
  Many still are, just mention Palestine to them.
They go to Hollywood and write a fifth sequel to a 20 years old series that no one cares about.
- Not without nepotism you don't
- And shoot or edit parts of it in germany to get some of those arts grants
European people: But... but what if we had a system of medical care for puppies, so that they do not die so often?
- US Elite: but how does that make me money
  
  By selling pet insurance, I suppose? Though I guess that requires that the puppies be owned by someone fortunate enough to afford it.
- That's Communism. Jesus hates that.
- Kristi Noem: hold my Cosmopolitan.
- Honestly, why doesn't Europe have universal veterinary? That will drive Americans nuts.
  
  (Source: Am American)
What do creative people do in Germany to support themselves?
- Art?
- Study liberal arts for free while getting bafög or a side job to pay for your living costs. I think that's more what the post is about. And there are also tons of grants.
  
  I don't think I've ever seen an EU grant for artists tbh – it's mostly infrastructure right? I haven't even seen that many artists comissioned to do public art here in Czechia (probably because it would be an unpredictable investment). The last time I'm aware of that happening was under communism when there was a mandated arts budget.
- I think the point is not so much about the actual occupation, but about the system fucking them a bit less.

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