Support of living artists can be rare.
Everyone knows the cliché “starving artist.”
However, things are about to change across the pond. Last week, London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, announced a new program designed to fund artist’s studio space through the financing of a special trust. The trust known as the Creative Land Trust has been established through public and private dollars to keep artistic talent in the city of London and to avoid artist flight due to astronomical housing costs.
Somerset House Studio, a mixed used historic building along the Strand, is the first to reap the rewards.
This is an encouraging step in ensuring that there is continued investment in the arts. Large American cities like Philadelphia, New York, and San Francisco among others should take notice and strive to make similar investments.