| Talking about arts and culture
"Why is the making of government cultural policy of such key importance? Because in our knowledge-based economy, the well-being of society depends on minds - on a multiplicity of questing, restless individual minds working with a large degree of freedom and some degree of support. It rests ultimately on a quality that corporations call innovation, and individuals call creativity. "Those communities that are richest in their artistic tradition are also those that are the most progressive in their economic performance and most resilient and secure in their economic structure." "When a community invests in the arts, they are not opting for cultural benefits at the expense of economic benefits. Extensive research shows that in addition to being a means of social enrichment, the arts are also an economically sound investment for communities of all sizes." "Strong, creative communities are known to attract business and industry, bringing employment opportunities and additional wealth to the community. Industries of the emerging information-age economy value quality-of-life issues for their employees, and are attracted to communities, regardless of geography, that actively support arts and culture." "I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for in the patterns of music and all the arts are the keys to learning." "During the past quarter century, literally thousands of school-based programs have demonstrated beyond question that the arts can not only bring coherence to our fragmented academic world, but through the arts, students' performance in other academic disciplines can be enhanced as well." "The process of studying and creating art in all of its distinct forms defines those qualities that are at the heart of education reform in the 1990's - creativity, perseverance, a sense of standards, and above all, a striving for excellence." "Community development is seen as a process by which people come together to address common concerns or problems in a systematic fashion, strengthening their sense of community and becoming empowered through the process. If the arts are seen as 'a part of' the community as opposed to 'apart from' the community, the chances for this kind of community building are greatly enhanced." "Cliches suggest that opera is screaming and yelling, and has nothing to do with ordinary people. Then there are those who think poor people don't deserve to be around art. They need to be around making money. They see poor people as culturally, intellectually, and emotionally deprived. Both of these stereotypes are totally incorrect. Opera seems to move downtown eastsiders more than anything else I've ever seen. I've seen people come out of their shell in a way I never thought possible. It's transforming them." "Natives and non-natives have little connection with each other, they have very separate communities. It was a real challenge even to begin finding a way to reach out to them, and then to find ways to work together that would allow us to come together as equals and create an opportunity for their voices to be expressed in their own ways. And, of course, bringing over 800 people together to create this kind of performance was a huge challenge in general. "The scale of the project was monumental, and the problems associated with bridging various ages, cultural, economic gaps in the community brought its own series of conflicts and tension. But to see people come together during this process was incredible. People who would not have had much to do with each other before were suddenly working and playing together - and these relationships have lasted well beyond the end of the project. It's hard to describe the impacts it's had. "It's this kind of intangible effect that made it a magical process. People coming together to create art, especially for people who don't see themselves as artists, is an incredible tool. And now these folks have started thinking and feeling about art in new ways. Some of the youth involved have gone on to start their own theatre company and begun training in the arts. You can't begin to imagine the positive effect this process had on this community." "Very few things turn on the kids like [world music] does. What we are really doing is promoting an understanding of the diversity that we have. There are lots of prejudices that are established out of ignorance. This is one way to deal with that ignorance. If we can eliminate prejudicial thought at that level, then we've made a major accomplishment." "Art is very often about crossing boundaries, because creativity is about seeing things in new ways. Art opens people's imaginations to a wider world. And creative thinking, risk-taking, and openness to the new are qualities that are valued in many fields besides the arts." "You won't have peace and agreement in the world unless we're connected by culture and art. Art transcends borders." "Any form of artistic expression is part of who we are as human beings. It would be a very empty existence without art in our lives, either the art that we ourselves produce, or that which we enjoy through the labour of others." "...In an economic climate where we hear so much about crisis in health and education, it is important to remember that culture, too, is an essential element of a healthy society. It's not an either-or situation. Health is necessary for life; culture makes life worth living...." "The importance of the arts lies in their ability to intellectually and emotionally engage us … I don't know how it works, but the whole sense of coming out of a live theatre presentation slightly changed and enhanced, a bigger person than when I walked in because of what I now know about people, what I may have gained in understanding, is something that I really value. "Art is an essential aspect of life, of being human. There is an institution where they were considering closing the art department as a result of government cutbacks, and the First Nations people there said, 'No, art and culture is too important and too integral to what we do.'" "We're all in the same boat. We really are. And that's why it's so important that we go to the theatre. Because it's the theatre that keeps us in tune with the simple message: we're all the same. We're just human beings who are trying to find our way through." "Narrative is the bundle in which we wrap truth, hope, and dread. It is how we explain, how we teach, how we entertain ourselves. It is essential to civilization." "It would be hard for me to imagine having a spiritual experience that didn't involve a movement of my soul by images, by movement, by music, by poetry. Art is integral to life." "Science will … produce the data … but never the full meaning. For perceiving real significance, we shall need … most of all the brains of poets, [and] also those of artists, musicians, philosophers, historians, writers in general." "… I cried in almost every scene. By the way I don't usually cry at shows but I think the reason I cry is because this show depicts my life almost exactly! On Friday October 3 I tried to kill myself by overdose, obviously it didn't work! The day after, I saw your first public show, and I don't know what happened but your show completely changed my life. It brought me out of my depression, and for that I am very thankful!" "Numerous studies show the positive effect of arts work with offenders. About 30 percent of male prisoners and 40 percent of female prisoners attend arts classes. Violent incidents in jails which have arts programs are 60 to 90 percent lower than in those without such programs." |