1] art supplies are expensive.

2] we provide free entertainment. when was the last time an artist or gallery asked for money before you entered a show of visual art , think about it....you pay 5 dollars to watch a guy/woman/group of humans badly strum an out of tune guitar, and sing a song they wrote the day before yet you’ll gladly enter an art show eat the food, drink semi-good wine, and look at art works that might have took years to make for free.

3] art takes up space. your average artist cannot live in a 400dollar shoe box of an apartment....they will need either

A] a 600 to 800 a month two room apartment

B] they’ll need to rent a totally separate room that’ll cost 100 to 200 bucks a month.

i know your thinking to yourself...get a job hippie...but id like to say to you that we have jobs, but art teachers dont make crap, graphic designers only make money when works available, and with the advent of personal computers and cheap printing no one is hiring sign painters or print makers anymore

4] food isn’t free

5] being an artists is a real job. no matter what your parents say, being an artist is a real job, that takes math, reading, government, and people skills. your average artist has dealt with more political, budgeting and people issues then two or three politicians at once.

6] lack of funding. some artists went to art school and they have school loans to pay for a diploma that's only worth a job at UPS, gas stations, grocery stores, fast food or Starbucks, and the NEA is currently a useless blob on the face of the art world. they will only fund boring fluffy art made by artist and art organizations that are rich enough to fund themselves, and they give zero support to individual artist.