Lately,  well for the last decade anyway,  I have been surrounding myself with other artisans. Partly because I am insecure about my art. And partly because it’s nice to be among others with similar interests.  I think creative types all do that.  So for my mind,  it seems as though there are more creative types now than at any time before.  There are more ways to be a writer, or an artist,  now than there have been.  I firmly believe this is because the human mind is constantly expanding.  At this period in time we have less to contend with for survival.  Convenient grocery stores mean that the skills needed for survival are different than even what was needed a century ago. 
                 So since we have more time that isn’t devoted to survival,  we can be creative.  There was a line in one of The Earth’s Children books (written by Jean M. Auel)… and now that I  go looking for that exact line, I can’t find it. Anyway,  the gist of the line was that the reason that beads and artistry were signs of status were because of how much time a single bead took to make.  That was time that wasn’t devoted to gathering of food and shelter resources.  In our society there is less need for hunting and gathering.  So we as a species still have that mindset.  Since there is enough time for the unnecessary making of art,  then we are doing well.  So we hold the artist and the storyteller in high regard because of this.