That s good question and a fair one. I think it’s because people have s romanticized view or art and artists. Art is for its own sake (not profit). Art is expressive, it captures the zeitgeist, angst and all kinds of negative things in society and exposes them, etc. They are edgy, set customs and mores, poke the establishment... (of course this is group effort involving boring followers, but never mind)

People who do “grunt work” as it were are seen as cogs in a machine, who while producing necessary good and utilitarian goods, are too quotidian and “Joe” and “Jane Public”.

HVAC-technicians could become a privileged group too, if they had more friends working in journalism.

Actually there is a reason, at least in NYC, why artists were the advanced guard of gentrification. There was a zoning ordinance passed that made it legal to use former industrial buildings as residences if the tenant was an artist. So, in order to transmute old industrial buildings into residences, developers needed artists in a transitional stage. I remember reading a journal article on urban history that had all the gory details, and that it was deliberately passed with the intent of gentrifying these artist districts or zones. After some quick Googling I think it was the rezoning in 1976 which is just in time to set up the gentrification and yuppie wave of the 80s.

That particular property isn’t cheap, but I think they’re saying if you’re looking for cheap property in Detroit there is property to be had for cheap, if you’re willing to work on the property and improve it (as the previous owners of property in question did).

185k In 2000 was actually a decent amount. In 2011 that same place was prob 40k or less. Not sure why they are using 2000 numbers when the low was between 2008-2013