Governments all across the world are known to assist their artists economically to quite some extent. Some consider this a waste of funds and would want them to be used for better purposes. While it makes sense to divert this economic attention to other arenas, I believe supporting the creative section would help shape the countries better.
On the one hand, most people give more weight to fields like science and technology over the arts. The former is the backbone of innovation that leads to explosive growth, while the latter can’t cure diseases. A smart phone is one of the many inventions of science, without which one cannot imagine the world currently. This ROI (return on investment) would make other investments look bleak. For example, every year the USA invests millions of dollars into young startups, that would one day grow into top-tech companies like Google and Apple, adding to the economy. However, I believe the real overall ascend comes through artists and their arts.
On the other hand, high-quality art is what has kept cultures alive for centuries. If it wasn’t for the theatre performances, paintings, cinema, and songs, there would have been no efficient way to deliver and teach emotions like empathy, love, happiness, pity, guilt etc to the communities. If the creators aren’t encouraged in the form of financial assistance from authorities, it would become next to impossible for them to provide this material to society because art as a field is not a financially rewarding field, unlike IT. For example, thousands of legendary theatre artists in the Indian cinema, or as they call it, Bollywood, who now have global recognition for their skill, have shared that they used to survive on a cup of tea on a daily basis, while they were struggling. Now imagine if their means were taken care of, it would have encouraged them immensely, thereby resulting in increased value addition to society.
In conclusion, although other areas can benefit from monetary assistance from the government, artists need this more than anything in order to push them beyond the daily hardships of their field and contribute towards the culture of their societies.