# Toward a society where everyone is an artist Herbert Read said, in the future, "there will be no precious or privileged being called artists: there will be only workers … The artist is not a special kind of man, but every man is a special kind of artist."[^1] [[Art is good work]]. Wilhelm von Humboldt said, "all peasants and craftsmen might be elevated into artists; that is, men who love their own labor for its own sake, improve it by their own plastic genius and inventive skill, and thereby cultivate their intellect, ennoble their character, and exalt and refine their pleasures."[^1] Brian Eno, on a panel about basic income, says he thinks such a thing is necessary so people can devote more time to making art.[^2] Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards says, "I feel that should be a right: to create, to be creative. And I think obviously we don't live in a country where that has ever really been part of the priorities, \[but] I feel like it's cruel not to allow people that time. 'Cause it's pretty clear to me that everybody needs it. Even the people I know with the least amount of musical ability still really want to sing with others at some point."[^3] One argument from the right about why we need capitalism is that it incentivizes work. But every artist I know works on their craft not because it earns them money. John Clark imagines a society "in which the creative capacities of all would be allowed free expression. Human productive activity would be valued as a good in itself, rather than as a means toward accumulation of property and power. The goal of labour would be the collective creation of a community in which beauty, joy, and freedom would be realized."[^1] Even John Adams said, "I am a warrior, so that my son may be a merchant, so that his son may be a poet." [^1]: [Anarchism and Art | The Anarchist Library](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/mark-mattern-anarchism-and-art) [^2]: [Brian Eno message - Don't get a job - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-53tzx69fM&t=34s) [^3]: [[Mirror Sound]] pg. 119