No Money No Art I Think Not

A few years ago I and my cousin who is four years younger to me were having a typical conversation about school, friends and aspirations. I asked him what he saw himself studying, though it was obvious from the drawings he made of his favorite cartoon shows it would be something to do with his artistic skills I still needed a confirmation. He told me he wanted to study animation. Since we live in separate countries we don’t hear much from each other unless there is a visit which is me coming to London or him coming to New York. Last year he came to New York we were meeting each other after a year or two. We ended up having the same conversation except this time I got to know he wanted to get into medicine. I was somewhat baffled since I could not understand what made him go in such a different way. I asked him what made him change his mind. He explained to me that he was influenced by my other cousin since he is studying medicine too and that he still had the interest in game designing but he wouldn’t be able to make much money. I sat back talking to myself, what is this kid saying? He is just 13. He is already making his career choice based on money? There is no doubt in my mind that he is smart and talented, he can succeed in whichever field he chose but it struck me, what is wrong with society today? I was over hearing a conversation between a relative and her friend, who teaches in an art college. One day she asked her students what commercial art meant and the first thing that came to their mind was that in commercial art one can make money whereas in fine art or in other forms of art it’s hard to sustain. Where did this stigma come from? I believe this world needs as many artists as scientists and engineers. People need to support art for what it is.