Kickstarter-like funding? Public money? Donations? Grants?

I don't believe that the law should be trying to protect the current business model of horse breeders/candlestick makers/cinema complexes simply because technology has made possible a cheaper and better equivalent.

Back when patronage was the dominant business model for art creation, "wealthy" was pretty much anyone that had space in their budget for discretionary expenses.

These days, you don't need one person to pay your living expenses while you create. You can get 50000 fans to pay you $1 a year to make the stuff that they think is cool. With cryptocurrency, you can even get fans from other countries to pay patronage.

Sure, rich people will always be able to commission the crap that no one likes but them, but that's no longer the only way to go.

Besides Kickstarter, there is a company that is very successfully doing this in the tabletop role-playing game industry. The patron model is viable, as long as you diversify your patrons. It's not really all that different from the freelance coder lifestyle.