What you're describing then would only be a short term chicken and egg problem.
If, once established, a thriving art scene generates value by attracting tourism, wealthy individuals who want to patronize the arts, etc then the artists would be able to charge enough to fund themselves and potentially do very well for themselves.
In that scenario we'd only need to fully subsidize artists for a short period of time, the subsidy law should have an expiry date.
> we'd only need to fully subsidize artists for a short period of time
That's literally how it works (at least in France). The government sponsors artists early on. Those who make it big don't need the gov sponsoring (and lose eligibility to it). Those who don't continue to receive the sponsoring.
Some artists take a very long time to pan out (some way after their death) so it makes little sense to cut funding to artists on an expiry date basis.
If, once established, a thriving art scene generates value by attracting tourism, wealthy individuals who want to patronize the arts, etc then the artists would be able to charge enough to fund themselves and potentially do very well for themselves.
In that scenario we'd only need to fully subsidize artists for a short period of time, the subsidy law should have an expiry date.