There are many people who accuse artists of arrogance. In fact arrogance can happen in any pursuit.
There are arrogant doctors who think that they are better than everyone else because they have finished medical school.
There are arrogant engineers and scientists who think that they are the only sane and rational people in the world, and that everyone else is stupid or crazy.
There are arrogant military people who think that they are the only strong people in the world, and that everyone else is a sissy.
There are arrogant businessmen who think that they are the only winners and that everyone else is a loser.
There are arrogant construction workers and laborers who think that they are the only people who do real work, and that everyone else is a parasite.
In all of these cases we see arrogance meeting or exceeding that of the artists.
I have known no artists who think that only what they do is important. But I have known engineers, businessmen and construction workers who do.
I do not think that it will ever be possible to get rid of arrogance. It appears to be inextricable from human makeup. But it is completely wrong to see arrogance in some people who have it and not others. Certainly there are arrogant artists; but there are arrogant people in any number of other pursuits, including among those who attack them.
So it is important to put things into perspective. Yes, there are arrogant artists; but artists come nowhere close to owning arrogance.
On the people who are on a creative path, what I see is the following. They start out as arrogant, then as they get more life experience they become more humble. Humility gets imposed on them when it was not a part of their original character. To achieve their inspiration, they deal with forces greater and wiser than themselves. And the logical outcome of dealing with such forces is that there are bigger things than oneself, which then leads to humility.
Whereas many in the engineering path or the labour path start out as humble and become arrogant. They work hard, and they decide that they are better than other people. What these people need to know is this. They are not the only people who work hard. There are many people who work hard, and while they may be more hard-working than many people around them they do not own hard work. The more they deal with people from places such as China and India, the more they will understand this.
I have had the experience of both paths. I have done a lot of work in my life; I have also done a lot of thinking and writing. I have value for both business and culture. Both constitute accomplishment, and both contribute vastly to the civilization. Both people who militate against business and people who militate against culture are wrong. Once again, both constitute accomplishment; both contribute to the civilization.
As for matters of arrogance and humility, it is important to distinguish the valid from the invalid. It is valid to see value in what one does and to pursue it even if it is opposed by powerful interests. It is not valid to think that other people are trash. By all means have the confidence that you need to pursue your inspiration, but also be good to other people. And in so doing actually benefit the world.