I so want this to be the case for every artist and musician! Unfortunately, it’s often not. Most have to work a job that pays the bills, too. Hence, the music educator who also plays in the local symphony, teaches, works gigs. The artist who paints murals in children’s bedrooms, teaches art, and does her own creative work. The musical theater performer who teaches in the high school, is the stalwart of the community theater group, and runs the summer theater camp in town. The poet who also got an ed certification and teaches high school English while also writing, submitting for publication, participating in an academic poetry group, advising re: college admissions essays.
I’m not saying that young people whose joy is art, music, theater, writing shouldn’t study those things. I’m saying that they should have a coordinated plan to become self-supporting, too, in case they cannot make a living solely from their art for its own sake.