alt Hacker NewsWhen I went to South Africa last, we went through a few slums.
It was comical to see the celebrity "assistance" in the form of e.g., a music production studio + school set up by skrillex, neighboring areas where people lived in shipping crates with stolen electricity jumpered directly from main, and with water tapped off city lines and bucketted in.
They dont need djs, they need plubmbers, carpenters, and electricians first! Fires and water loss were endemic. Almost everyone lived off government assistance, stole / smuggled resources, and blocked traffic/protested when the illegal resource taps were shut down or a government job didn't manifest. The people who made money where they lived usually washed cars or sold trinkets to tourists or brewed bucket beer.
Music, much like sport, is seen by many working class people as a way to make some money, so not completely senseless. Art to a lesser extent.
Carpenters/joiners are a good half-way house, as they can provide both practical assistance to the community as well as selling collectibles/souvenirs or whatever.
The problem is the minute some of these people pick up skills or money, they leave the slums behind. The plumbers and electricians may make better money rigging up office blocks than from fitting out the slums.