New Immigration Law Bars Young Artists From Britain.

A new change to immigration laws will bar young emerging artists from getting work visas in Britain, saying only "established and world-class artists" will qualify. Take a look...
http://theartnewspaper.com/articles/Come+to+Britain+(but+only+if+you’re+already+famous)/28167

I see a few problems with this...

First, It makes me, as an emerging artist, hesitant to even think about moving to Britain...ever. Why would I ever, even once I'm famous, want to go to a place that unapologetically does not see the value in developing artists?

Second, do they not realize that "place" and the idea of "home" are fairly important to many artists, especially when developing? You are making it very easy for artists to completely ignore Britain and have absolutely no personal connection to the place, leading me to believe that, even when they do qualify, many artists would rather set up shop somewhere they are comfortable...somewhere they have a connection...somewhere that inspires. If you keep artists out of your country the entire time they develop some may come in search for new inspiration, but I think many would simply find no reason to relocate to a place unconnected to their work or life experience.

Thirdly, they are setting themselves up to fall off the artistic map. I don't think any artist wants to go work somewhere they feel artists aren't welcome and, though they may get some established top tier artists through this move, they are also missing out on every potential top tier artist that wanted to establish themselves in that city and build their career there. While maybe getting some top tier artists to move, they are also barring non-european artists from offering their ideas on culture, art and the future. They are basically telling the developing art world that it doesn't matter...Britain's got enough and we can just  to just take the best because they want to come here. It's like saying you don't want to develop talent, you just want to take it from others after it's been accomplished....and while that can work to a degree, the finishing product is never as good if you don't put in the time...

Lastly, let's face it...most artists aren't their best on the tail end of their career. Most of the really exciting work comes through their development, working with others and gaining new experience. To say you just want people after they are world-class shows a total ignorance to where and how exciting art gets created and really just screams of a horribly misguided attempt to force the quick creation of a  good art community.

A real community doesn't get made by slapping in the smartest people on the planet into one city, it happens through real interaction, real reaction and real experience...

there's nothing lamer than someone who feels they have great taste and are cultured simply because they like Picasso, Pollock, or (insert ultra-famous artists here)...and there's nothing worse than an institution (or country in this case) that calls themselves cultured and informed while only granting artist visa's to those already accepted and praised in the high-art-world community.