Arts debate

It is hard to bear this thought, but the experience of life can be completely void of meaning. We come to this planet and we go. We get old but we still feel young. There is much pain and loss in every life and it is often pointless. Time is passing and we are all going to the same fate. But we struggle against this. We surround ourselves with domesticity family, love, projects and ambitions and art. Arts may not be able to change this condition but Art is one of the most important ways we make meaning and a sense of meaning. We alleviate the human condition with great bursts of laughter, out of body experiences flights of imagination and intense emotional empathies. We raise peaks of memorable experience out of the flatlands. Art is one of the most important strategies for dealing with the strangeness of human life.

The other day I saw a young mother with her baby in a papoose dancing down the street to the music of a street band. That was art working at the most important level .oxygen for the soul?The lady and her baby were flying on a magic carpet of art. They were sailing through the hum drum consumerism of the shopping street in an ecstasy of movement and joy. The individual ecstatic experience is one of the most valuable things about art. The other is the communal experience of art which takes us out of our smaller identity and gives us a mystical feeling of belonging. We may feel this in a great music concert or in the immersive experience a large scale open air performance.

The ecstasy of art can keep us connected to life's mystery in a secular world. Art can also process politics?help us comprehend issues and comment on every aspect of life. But at the core the imagination is a challenge to the real and a rejection of the tedious. Life without it is unimaginable. However socially beneficial the arts may be no one should demand that they are lashed to social agendas because ironically art as a slave becomes surly and useless. Art is always strange and paradoxical and only enhances the human condition as a strange bi-product of its freedom.

Ok I'd better qualify that statement before i am accused of blasphemy.

The concept of art is akin to the concept of a god. Both are intangible beings that defy definition. They require an element of faith, in order to turn an inocuous gesture into a political statement, or a beautiful dance move, to take us from the material and practical earth and lift us to something higher.

Furthermore, as people choose to worship a god, or ignore a god, in their own ways, so people have a multiude of expressions and approaches to art. I suspect no two people have exactly the same experience or concept of art, no matter what training or influence they have had, because Art reflects our life and life reflects our art.

Art cannot be soley defined by purpose, or by form, or by content, or by censorship, or by history, or by audience, or by humanity, but by all of these things, and probably more that come together as a cry of the soul.

Maybe that's what it is. A cry of the soul. Anyone fancy trying to define what the soul is?

The phrase beauty is in the eye of the beholder must be a funding decision-makers nightmare. We all place different value on different art according to our experience.

Good luck!

Having grown up in a country that sometimes seems obsessed with not just art but with design - "formgivning", "giving shape", is the Danish noun - perhaps I was just "damaged at birth", as it were, and learned at an early age that although there were possibly no decent chairs before Hans Wegner designed his, you owe it to yourself and to your behind always to try out new ones.

So, maybe that is what I like about the arts: the way they encourage you not to accept the status quo, always to experiment, expect that there is another challenge around the corner; as well as a wealth of earlier attempts, a long tradition of endeavouring to "lend shape", a heritage of aesthetic effort.

It is one of the glories of living in my own shape-shifting city of "NewcastleGateshead" that it has decided to grow a shimmering layer of modern arts over its industrial heritage, a history that still shines through but which has become "heritage" rather than the foundation of our lives here. That was a surprise and a gift to somebody who came to the UK in the dark winter of 1979 as one of Thatcher's shivering immigrants. It is not the whole meaning of our lives here, but it is part of their meaning and accounts for a great deal of their shape. Creativity is not everything but without it - in our streets, museums, galleries, schools, business, tourism - we would be much less.

...all of it is art and creativity...the infusion of imagination into the world and we can't live healthily without it.

The (creative) arts industry provides me with an income to help support my family! Long may this continue!

Our collective creativity will enable us to aspire to a better way.

The esentials needed to maintain life are breathing, eating, drinking, sleeping and exercise, and surprisingly - culture (or art in all its forms) Without culture we would not know who we are or what we can or cannot do. We would be lost in aa would we could not understand.

I also value art for its "uselessness" and am revolted by people who think art should be "value for money". The way people always bring up every year how many nurses could be employed if you did not put Christmas lights up in Regent's Street. Granted nurses are very important, but try not having lights one year and notice how miserable and complaining most people would be.

Because it creates an interesting and enjoyable environment is also why I "value" art.

I lived through the Mitterand years in France and saw what a massive investment the government made in the arts (which is now under threat due to the Chirac right-wing being in place for so long). Through those years France built up it's image of a place where people lived a better, more cultured life. This is a reputation that exists to this day, despite decreased funding and the political swings that endanger the arts. Through the Albertville Olympics they changed the way ceremonies are done and ever since we have "Decoufle" look-a-likes.

What I am trying to get at is that a sociaty can gain an enormous amount of benefit through investing in the arts as the modern world is yearning for the idea that not everything has to do with profits and margins. That a society can invest in the well-being of the population and that artistic expression is as valuable a commodity as oil or wheat. That in turn creates an economy, of people going to festivals, performances, exhibitions. People will come to visit a country, and bring in tourist pounds so to speak, just to experience a society rich in culture and arts, because so many places don't have it.

The problem is there are too many people who are unaware of their ability to express their ideas and understanding. This comes down to education. Sadly our education system is letting us down. The arts have been squeezed out in favour of feeding the need for testing and eventually the global/commercial economy. We need to allow schools the time and freedom to involve the arts in the curriculum; they also need the funding to do so. This cannot be achieved by 'projects' with visiting workshops, it has to be a significant part of the framework of education. Children of all abilities, cultures and backgrounds can be reached in one way or another through the arts, thus their education enriched. Creativity is as essential for the healthy psychological and physical development of the child as it is to the maintenance of the well being of the adult.

'Get them young' and then we would not be faced with the dilemma of how to change attitudes that are well embedded.

Art is a way of expressing what you care about, what you don't like, what you want to teach the world.

Art is a secret language that is often difficult to learn with no dictionry to help understaanding. But there is there should be excitement embarking on the journey to discover this new and the people who use it.

Yet as a disabled person art is a haven where I can ahieve and prosper and grow. And given the right suppott I can continue to pass the knowledge and the joy on to oithers

yes, art is a joy, an exhilerating ex`perience and sometimes a pain.

Art is a secret language that is often difficult to learn with no dictionary to help you understand. But there should be excitement embarking on the journey to discover this new land and the people who use it.

Yet as a disabled person art is a haven where I can achieve and prosper and grow. And given the right support I can continue to pass the knowledge and the joy on to others

Yes, art is a joy, an exhilarating experience and sometimes a pain. It has enriched my life zillions of times and my life would be much much less without it

It is the responsibility of the Arts Council in co-operation with the Government to make sure that the Arts are available to all for FREE and to actively encourage those busy people that they and their children can, as easily as watching television, attend the wonderful world of music art theatre literature etc that are available free of charge, to enrich their lives and ease the heavy burden of everyday life.

The Government should be pouring money into encouraging all kinds of artistic endeavour through the Arts Council, eliminating mediocrity through education, exploring every possible avenue to engage EVERYBODY to explore themselves through the arts, there is no more important calling.

My hope is that the 'Arts' will loose the highbrow tag and become the language of everybody eventually.

'To every time it's Art and to every Art it's freedom.'

Our Laws and morals often inhibit and restrict us, but our Art is allowed to evolve with us. I teach the best subject in the world!

To have to even ask the question defines the state of our society. Art is a universal language of endeavour, of achievement. The yardstick to measure a creative individuals quality, talent and achievement. It is however much more. It is a reflection of the value a society places on the achievement of the individual. It is stronger than any tyrant, (Witness the Schostakovich example) stronger than any religious hypocrisy (Witness countless examples throughout history) Stronger than any politician or government. WHY and HOW?, because it is timeless and a reflection of those qualities of the human spirit that make us "more than we are" A society that abuses artists, or worse does not even the have time and desire to try and understand their motivation, is destined to implode and lose its ability to recognise quality and values. Defining only materialistic values, it will eventually revert to a greedy, paranoid state where value is measured not by talent or creative endeavour but by materialistic power and influence. It is no coincidence that societies produce the creative artistes' they deserve. In order for creative artists' to thrive they have to be appreciated, understood and supported. To produce work of quality in any art form requires the discipline of years of endeavour and study combined with a special sensitivity and talent. If a society is not conducive to the development and nurture of these qualities, then the creative artist will not survive. (Witness the musical examples of Uk history. Gap between Purcell and Elgar.)

It's the freedom of thought.

What more could you value?

When you stare at a canvass, or prepare to write, and there is nothing to express, there is a problem. Peoples association with life is the essence of Art. Art, to me, is all this. The movement from one place to another, the emotive behavior of people, the pure articulation of internal occupations. Without it all, death seems less significant. The beauty of ART is people, without people it isn't ART, it is something else. I am becoming more thankful each day I age.

Through the arts we can also respond to issues that affect our lives. Politicians sometimes don't appear to be listening and the arts is often a forum where imprtant ideas can be shared, communicated or challenged. The Arts Council can help people of all backgrounds embrace the arts and feel connected to something worthwhile.

The second point I wish to make here is that we must not take it for granted how many extraordinary things that museums and art galleries offer that are free of charge. The saying 'nothing in life is free' - well it is - look around you. Take advantage of this gift of an opportunity and most of all, don't ever take the funding of the arts by the government, the national lottery and generous patrons ever for granted.

The question is pointless. All areas of the arts have value.

- With art we can stand back from everyday life and have a good old look at it
-With art we can express parts of ourselves and explore parts of ourselves that we can't in ordinary life
-In art we can explore not just who we are - but who we want to be and as I work in theatre - we can do so 'In action'
-In art we can play and be playful, we can be playfully bad or playfully good, we can turn things inside out or stand them on their head or start a conversation, or make a point - but through making our art we learn more about ourselves.
- With art we can explore others and create opportunities for others to explore us and themselves
- Art can open up new worlds for us - I enter a piece of art and my world is transformed. But am I also transformed in this interaction?
- Art that has made an impression on me has changed me or sewn the seeds of change
-Not all art is 'good' and that is what I value too - the risk, the experimentation, seeing people/artists struggling with ideas, struggling with the simple, the complex, the ineffable
-In a world where there is an increasing imperative to 'perform' - performing arts allows us to 'perform' on our own terms, and indeed to 'parody', question and challenge the very notion of 'performance'.

I value any artistic experience which makes me feel alive.

Just like any other experience we value.

Arts are different in that they create that feeling from nothing. You don't need a pack of cards, scissors, paper, stone, goal-posts, a second home, car, mortgage - where your life is on the line.

I value the arts as a participant, particularly as an art tourist travelling to galleries and very public places as diverse as the Northumbrian Coast to see Bethan Hews Basistra? Singers and the rainbow at the end of the performance and revisiting the Battle of Orgreave in Yorkshire to public art in Munster in Germany and Video projections in Durham Cathedral. I have valued taking my children to all of these events. Without arts subsidy of all kinds from ACE, local authorities and others into individual artists at different stages in their careers these amazing public events would not have happened.

Dipak Joshi

(Now my rallying cry. Thanks Catherine)

Public funding of Art in the UK is an arms-length arrangement with government. The funder (public purse)adopts a hear nothing, see nothing, say nothing relation to the product of its funding. It can be shown (the select committee concluded) that public funding of contemporary Art has achieved a mechanism for fueling a treasure market at the expense of, in direct opposition to, supporting art - image or ornament for human eyes.

art..

when i step into a gallery or speak to a 'creative' i get this huge overwhelming sense of wel being, this however sounds completely meladramatic!

i consider art to be the reasoning for discussions, its so broad its far too great to condense, to define, i just know i breath for it.
whatever it is.

i hold art so very close and so
very high.

I happen to be writing this in Athens, because I am working with the National Opera of Greece at the moment. This is an appropriate place in which to try to answer these questions, especially for a theatre practitioner like myself, because it was here that western theatre was invented. I do not think it is any coincidence that it was also here that western democracy was invented. Democracy, contrary to the implication of much US-UK foreign policy, is not something which can be imposed upon a society, or latched onto the coat-tails of capital. It is something which arises out of a culture, an atmosphere. As artists and cultural workers, our role is to create such an atmosphere. The arts make moods amongst their audiences. They empower those audiences through the atmospheres they generate. They make certain things thinkable, and other things unthinkable.

At the present moment, much of what, throughout the history of western civilization, we have regarded as unthinkable within democratic structures and traditions, is becoming thinkable. I mean the erosion of civil liberties, the institutionalisation of racism, the criminalisation of the victims of human trafficking, the labelling of people fleeing persecution as illegal migrants, the deliberate impoverishment of people in other countries by multinational corporations: I could go on. These things happen because we have become capable of thinking the unthinkable. They can only be stopped by a concerted campaign in the hearts and minds of the public.

In Periclean Athens, theatre was a civic duty, both for the performers and the audience. The entire citizenry went to hear and see a complex performance in which there were many voices; refined and made special through poetry, song, dance and image. The voices they heard were often those of the excluded: so many Greek plays have the names of women as a title, and the Chorus is so often a group of older people, or young people, or foreigners. Because in the arts, in the cultural space, people can meet as equals. There is no equality in the market-place or on the battlefield. We have no political, social or economic equality. But in the empty space of the theatre; there we stand as our naked selves. And that is where we must begin. In 5th century Athens, going to the theatre was a compulsory preparation for the legislative process and for jury service. If we are searching for ways out of our current moral bankruptcy (and I believe many of us are) then we could do a lot worse than look to this Greek cultural model.

So, if we desire a better society, a more democratic society, a more secure society, a more just society, we must invest in art and culture. Because when people explore what it is to be human, it enables them to become more humane.

Art is valuable for looking from a different angle; challenging what a "machine-efficiency" view of life would demand; accessing all the non-obvious dimensions; and simply being enriching.

Leaving the station this morning, I was given a red wallet – the kind I use for my season ticket. “Thanks,” I said, “I can do with one of those.”

Quite often, people stand outside the station giving things away: a can of coke, a cloth to clean shoes, a bag of crisps …always as part of some marketing ploy but the gift is often welcome. As my season ticket wallet is falling apart, I was particularly glad of this.

One of the donors – a young woman – must have marked my delight as she offered me another wallet. “It’s by Tracey Emin,” she said.

And so it was – there’s a drawing of a cat (I admire Emin’s drawings), a little inscription saying “TRACEY EMIN STUDIO” and the handwritten words “We’ve got fur and lots of ears. Love Tracey Emin. 2007”

Not an original, of course but a specially-made plastic wallet. I have four of them now, celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of the Arts Council of England. The others are by Bernadine Evaristo, Adam Suherland and Antje Schiffers. Each is a miniature delight.

I often visit galleries for the free art, but those are temples of culture. And I admire works of public art, from Nelson’s Column to Charles Jagger's bleak monuments to military annihilation. But daily delights are few. I used to like the bright mosaics by Paolozzi at Tottenham Court Road underground but there’s too little like that – and too many dingy Van Gogh reproductions in hospital waiting rooms.

But today I was one of many people given a n artistic delight for myself. “Sell it on eBay,” one man said. But I won’t. I shall use Tracey Emin’s wallet – and the others – and every time I see them I shall enjoy the gift. Far more cheery than anything in Gordon Brown’s budget is the daily use of art – a delight, a cause for contemplation and a reminder of a world beyond the everyday.

Thank you Tracey, Bernadine, Adam and Antje. Thank you Arts Council.

Great Art should transcend the time in which is produced and speak to us through the centuries - crossing the boundaries of nationhood and class.

change the way individual people act, feel and think.

document and reflect the world and the people living in it.

Bring about political, environmental and social change

Enhance our built environment

Develop our social interactions

Touch, educate and edify people of all ages, abilities, cultures and persuasions

I enjoyed reading everyones views they made me think .M>F 13th Feb I found interesting

When people engage in making art they are not (for example) fighting, killing, exploiting or wasting time. I value this.

When people make art they think deeply about the choices available to them and the resources they have to deal with them.

When people make art they say 'I am alive in the world.

When people engage with art as audience they accept that there are many ways of being in the world, that the world may take many forms, that some forms take on meanings for us (beauty, strength, wit, and all their variations and opposites).

There are many ways of communicating ie relating to each other and ourselves across time and space but the arts provide so many of them.

What principles should guide public funding of the arts today?
Public funding for arts should concentrate on community arts. That is, creative artistic projects that involve communities of people in the making of it, and which thereby provides processes and structures by which we get to know each other better. This is integration. The arts can be a space where traditional identities can be honored while simultaneously fusing to create the future: these are the places we collectively come from, and these are the futures we can see for ourselves.

Public funding of individual artists, no matter how talented, should have a lower priority where there is no element of engagement and involvement with wider communities.

What are the responsibilities of a publicly-funded organization?
To channel as much of its financial resource into it's aims rather than the infrastructure of the organization - ie get the money to the art (ists)

When should an artist receive public money?
When they explore and produce art that brings people together as equals under the mystery of things. Art that unites us a humans sharing a planet rather than divided tribes. Art that celebrates what we have in common over our differences.

Should members of the public be involved in arts funding decisions?
Yes if they are supported with clear information about the arts and artists. No power of veto! Maybe involved as panel members alongside arts officers, artists, children, teachers etc. Perhaps a courtroom style of consultation, with members of the public as jury, (but without the adversarial quality!) Perhaps involved at macro level ie not on individual grants to artists but on broad themes of programme.

Can art still be "the liberation from constraint" (Bretton)?

For me, I value independence. I value this as I grow more and more weary of artistic expression that approaches the condition of propaganda. Under the name of 'democratical responsibility' I perceive 'the arts' principal strength, its independence, being drained and a set of institutionally defined values that support policy objectives publicised in its place. Worse still, it is all too often the failure of actual policies to be realised that is being covered up by public arts programs that divert attention away from political failings. Urban regeneration, forexample, is better served by affordable homes that an community arts centre.

What I value in 'the arts' is a space outside of institutional agendas, a space where I can perceive the world as somebody else does, a space where my imagination is not insulted as it is in the broadcast media by rampant commercialism that adopts a lowest common denominator aesthetic and peddles a deeply suspect political and ethical set of values.

Without art the world would be grey and dull. I value the individuality and wide range of the arts in the UK at the moment.

Art stimulates reflection on our individual lives and those of others, on our values and ethical standards, on our society and it relationship to the global village. Art cap[tures the transient and the eternal; and helps us to distinguish between the two. Art sensitises us to the values and percepytions of others. Arts capture the essence of our civilisation - and of those aspects of our lives that are uncivilised.

In all these areas they are not the only medium at work. The function alongside academic learning, formal education, religion and the media.

I always suffered from bullying when I was younger and the arts helped me escape it. Whether I was at a festival, in a gallery or museum, on the stage or lost in a book it helped me escape the life which hurt me but also gave me other friends. The arts is something which I think effects everyone's life in one was or another it's just to what extent really. It's an important part of life and culture that would otherwise be lost and the funding for that is even more important because without it we wouldn't be able to carry the culture on.

So, here's one for the visual arts; lets not use our money to build a new storey on top of the existing ivory tower - we've just had one of those - it's called the Baltic! Oh, or was that meant to make the arts accessible to everyone? Couldn't we all buy a Machano set, and build a model of the Tyne Bridge?

Art should be there to enrich our intellects and inspire us with new theories or an alternative view on the state of the world. It should exercise our minds in ways that we may find hard to verbalise, so fresh and unexpected is the perspective that thrills us. However much of a form of escapism it can be, art should never stray from its educational purpose, even if the only thing it teaches is the value of lateral thinking.

I love seeing beauty in art but I will love it more if it has something to say beyond its superficial aesthetic qualities. Equally, I will appreciate the skilful way with which art may be constructed if it has a valid contribution to make to its message.

That is not to say I reject traditional artistic skills, or even historical works of art (and there are many that I admire). Rather, I am saying that I will advocate any works of art, be they historical, traditional, post-modern or avant-garde, that I feel 'speak' to me with their substance and application.

Life without the challenge, beauty and inspiration of the arts would be a drab and impoverished business.

Without funding the arts would become reliant on massive private subsidy or extroidinarily high ticket prices, both of which are unfeasible, no one has the money to do this.

Why is it important that the arts exist - becuase all cities and towns need strong culture at their centre to give them soul, to create socialble, vibrant and thoughtful places to live.

Over the past few weeks we have heard a lot about gang culture that has resulted in the tragic deaths of kids in London. In my view if these kids had been empowered through their own creativity with a massive (and on-going) cash injection through schools and community arts projects they would have something positive to carry them into the future. Sport has a huge part to play in society but its not the whole cultural story.

The innovation in Britain's design community is the envy of the world and this is a fundamental part of the USP of our industrial base.

Our Arts institutions, colleges, theatres, galleries all feed into this wellspring of ideas and people who create, without it we die, culturally but also economically.

our understanding of history is shaped by art and we need it to help us shape the future

For me, life without art in some form would just be completely grey -work, sleep, work again. I enjoy a wide variety of art stuff, gigs, plays, making prints, going to galleries, seeing street art, dance, public art. It's all important, and it all enriches our lives. Being fairly dramatic I might say that without it we're losing our humanity. It's a part of "I think therefore I am".

I love the was theatre makes me feel and how some writers such as Arthur Miller push me into action, he makes me want to make a difference and affect people in the way he has affected me.

The Arts helps you to explain how you're feeling, and why you're feeling it.

That's why I love it!

I value the arts;
Engagement makes me happy
Makes me feel that I can do
Helps me to solve problems
Activates parts of my brain not usually used
Helps create a micro ecconomic arena
Brings people together
Highlights myth and stigma
It's achemaic
Delivers wellbeing
Brightens spaces
Creates arguement and discussion
Highlights taste
Separates communities
Highlights bigotists
Delivers draconian measures
Restricts choice
Has flavours of the month
Directs public money into bottle necks
Helps families to communicate
Delivers levels of understanding
Beauty, uglyness, gray areas
Vision
Failier
Theres no wrong way of doing it until you've done it
Everyone can Paint, Sing, Act, Sculpt, Print.....etc... until you do it.
The arts are so important until the olympics arrive
The arts are for everyone oligarchic
I mostly value the arts for the language.

This debate is interesting but are we preaching to the converted?

Q2: What principles should guide public funding of the arts today?

Public funding should concentrate on creating the conditions in which creativity can flourish. It should not seek to control the forms which art takes, or promote a few artists while ignoring the needs of many.
The strategy of funders setting artistic criteria and promoting certain forms of art tends to lead to artists bending themselves in order to fit in with the current fashions, to the detriment of the free artistic process.
Art should be engaged in the society, not separate from it. No arts can happen without ground-level activity. Whether or not indivial artists are 'successful', they nevertheless provide the interest and audience for those who are. Therefore they also need to be nurtured as an indispensable part of artistic culture.
Community arts are important in encouraging people from all walks of life to be included in artistic activities, breaking down social barriers.

Q3: What are the responsibilities of a publicly-funded arts organisation?

To support the conditions for artistic culture to flourish.
To encourage enjoyment and respect of the arts by all.
To transparently account for their funding decisions.

Q4: When should an artist receive public money?

For public commissions and public sculpture; outdoor events; residencies and workshops which involve the public and other artists in the community; for aquisitions to national galleries and museums.

Q5 Should members of the public be involved in arts funding decisions?

Yes, as taxpayers' money is involved they should have some way of engaging with the process, perhaps through nominations and voting, maybe in conjunction with the tv. Though I'm not advocating complete 'vox pop' as art has different criteria to mainstream popular culture and should retain its integrity.

They have the ability to liberate us from the restraining logic, practicality and ultimate dullness of every day life...

They provide us with the opportunity to be communal or alone with any emotion, image, sound or idea...

They allow participants - whether performers, creators, viewers or listeners - an unique experience of both escapism from life and a fascinating exploration of it...

...ETC
[possibly this is the most important bit!]

My grandparents were far poorer than anyone you'll meet in Britain today, yet they were certainly happier than many of my friends today, and I think this is because they had a real community. The power of art to bring people together, to help regenerate communities, to overcome the divides in our modern societies, shows, for me, that art is not a mere extra to society, the icing on the cake, but fundamental to it.

Dominque Mayer 6.53pm 17 April has made the case for creating the conditions of creativity. I would add to that educating the wider public. To make them aware that there are alternatives to the ubiquitous, tacky 'musak'in public spaces and to the junk television of our increasingly commercialised culture. I won't see Ian McKellan's Lear at the Theatre Royal here in Newcastle. It's apparently sold out but local hotels will soon be offering luxury weekend stays which include two tickets for Lear just as happened last year with Tempest.

Throughout history the Arts have been a powerful means of expression - hence censorship. Too important to be seen solely as entertainment and pushed to the periphery of our culture. The Arts Council can ensure that this doesn't happen.

Dominque Mayer 6.53pm 17 April has made the case for creating the conditions of creativity. I would add to that educating the wider public. To make them aware that there are alternatives to the ubiquitous, tacky 'musak'in public spaces and to the junk television of our increasingly commercialised culture. I won't see Ian McKellan's Lear at the Theatre Royal here in Newcastle. It's apparently sold out but local hotels will soon be offering luxury weekend stays which include two tickets for Lear just as happened last year with Tempest.

Throughout history the Arts have been a powerful means of expression - hence censorship. Too important to be seen solely as entertainment and pushed to the periphery of our culture. The Arts Council can ensure that this doesn't happen.

Don't waste public money on two decade old little art Kingdoms that could not financially sustain themselves. Expect them to stand on their own feet.

Spend a fixed proportion of public money on the new talent.

New talent doesn't mean only 18 yr olds.

Think beyound the set guidelines, something that arts bureaucracy is clearly afraid to do.

Stop being being snooty or dismissive of ordinary people.

Art that is beyond or over and above people should not be sustained by public funding.

With due respect to Geniuses, Picasso did not need Arts Council funding.

Imagination: If we are not surprised, moved, excited and/or shaken into a new understanding, a work of art has not repaid the effort we have put into it. We won’t all respond to the same works in the same way, but being able to articulate the full reach of the artistic imagination involved can be a bad sign.

Engagement: If the subject of a work of art doesn’t appear to matter that much to the artist(s), there is no real reason why it should matter to anybody else. In his Principles of Art in 1938 RG Collingwood argues: The artist must talk of the problems of the community he serves, not his own, because they are interested in their own dilemmas, not those of the artist. It all depends on the ‘community’ the artist serves. Currently the funded arts talk most eloquently of the problems of the community of funders.

Love, roots & intelligence: When asked what was most important to the work of Maly Theatre of St Petersburg’s Michael Stronin replied: love and roots. When Maly’s Lev Dodin was asked about the key quality he looked for in actors, he replied: intelligence. The arts would be richer if more people signed up to such fundamentals. The growth of the arts as a service industry has seen too much spent on smoke and mirrors; too much work that packs itself up and goes without leaving a trace.

as far as allocating and sustaining spaces for critical and socially engaged art practice is possible, i think we should try our best to avoid prescribing the ways in which arts production should occur, be it via strict funding guidlines or ecomomical imperatives. arts producers that see their role in society as being thoughtful, critical and constructive with respect to a more or less wide community (in a globalized world, perhaps we can start thinking of a world community) face increasingly precarious conditions for doing their work. it surprises me how easily governement and other entities ignore how valuable this way of thinking art is when talking about a democratic culture.

i think public funding for the arts is extremely important, and its main purpose should not be to supply populations with cultural commodities (there are entertainment and creative industries taking care of this) but to offer and value a genuinely open space for debate in which problems can be addressed and alternative ways of doing things can be thought about. i am speaking as an artist and cultural worker here, but also as a person paying taxes: where else if not in the arts is tax money most promisinlgy invested?

Like privious people have said,
I too hold it so very close and so
very high.

Clearly this is not a Pubic Safety Issue. If it was the same licences would be needed for premises having these latter forms of entertainment.

In any event all places to which the Public resort for any reason should be safe even if it is just to have a drink of lemonade, for example.

Also the definition of Public Performance prevents a performance in a private house where people have 'clubbed together' to pay a performer, what in the United Staes of America is called 'A House Concert'. Thisis excessively restrictive. In the States this is how many performing artists get a start.

Restrictive legislation is stifling instead of encouraging growth in this sector to the future detriment of the National Economy.

It is true that both Government and the Musician's union has attempted to get 'hard fact' evidence and only got anecdotal evidence BUT you cannot prove a negative. if people are put off by legislation and do not put on such concerts or events, there is no evidence.

Things only happen if the relevant legislation is positively encouraging.There were plenty of checks and balances in the general Law before the current Licensing Act. All that was needed was the abolition of those parts of the previous Licensing Acts that made the concession of 'two in a bar' necessary. General legislation already adequately protected the Public against abuse in respect of excessive noise and overcrowding, which in any event is not addressed if the music is recorded or there is an event on television screen.

You have to nuture the seed corn if you are eventually going to reap a rich harvest. Or is this too rural an image for those urbanites that for the bureacracy and Government?

As one of those people deemed 'creative'I gain satisfaction from seeing the way in which imaginative approach to life opens the lives of others. Too many examples have been explored to dismiss claims of the essential value of painting, sculpture, music, dance, drama to society, especially when it is returned to the people and becomesa collaborative exploratory and celebratory function. Not something to be worshiped, devoured or passively viewed.
We need ot release the art in all of us, not just in a priviledged few.

It is essential that all young people have access to a wide range of arts and cultural opportunities. That these experiences are authentic, reflecting the contemporary world of which they are part, that they have relevance to their lives whilst also providing challenge. They should have opportunities to work with creative individuals and in creative environments, learning to think and act as artists, crafts people and designers, working creatively and intelligently. These experiences should reflect the interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary practice of the arts today. They should provide opportunities to work both individually and collaboratively, exploring the creative potential of new technologies.

Their experiences should promote creative approaches to all aspects of their lives developing curious and enquiring minds. We want young people who have experiences through which they develop an appreciation of the arts and their role in the creative and cultural industries that enriches their future lives.

Money should be also spread across to Artists - Crafts People, who produce various unique type Art: - Pottery, Woodcarving, Jewllery, Stone artefacts, Sculptors, Glassware, Paintings and many more.

There should be many more places to exhbit Skilled Crafts via: - craft fairs or public buildings and cost to exhibit: -for free or for a small fee.

Presently to just exhibit our Artwork at a craft fair, via a one or two stalls {tables}, it can cost approx: - £25 up to £500 plus. Very exspensive.

Arts projects that are about more than just art they establish communications, create ideas, generate investment, and enrich community life-making more things possible.

Our organisation is a member of the National Rural Touring Forum [NRTF] for whom Francois Mattarasso of Comedia conducted the first substantial independent study of the 40 rural touring schemes and their 1300 voluntary groups.

The following is an extract from "Welcome to the House of Fun" which is the Prologue to the full report Only Connect.

"In a matter of hours, the Homemade Orchestra and the audience have encountered each other, shared an unrepeatable moment, and gone their ways. It’s been a brief, but resonant, connection. The evening feels like a triumph on all sides: there will be more shows in this hall, and more halls for the Orchestra to connect with new audiences. The ripples will run far and long, linking people and art. This is rural touring: professional and homemade".

An extract from ‘Welcome To The House Of Fun’, prologue to ‘Only Connect’, an independent report authored by Francois Matarasso of Comedia, and published in July 2004.

I think that short paragraph speaks volumes. I have seen that experience repeated hundreds of times, and have seen it valued every time. It is no less affecting to see State of Emergency dance in a packed village hall or to burst into smiles of joy as three family generations get to their feet to dance to Zimbabwean Marimba, as it is to be moved to tears by David Bradley as the Fool in King Lear. I know I have done both. Participation in the arts can and does effective change at personal and community level.

Our work focusses on many disadvantaged and isolated community groups who value the arts as a chance to express themselves when they otherwise wouldn't. In some places arts activities can be part of what makes a community:-

‘We actually can’t do without [the arts]. If we didn’t have a wide spread of things happening in villages like this - because there’s not the indigenous farming [and]
employment, which acts as the cement between people, there has [to be] something else; currently that
something else is largely what happens [around] the arts. If you didn’t have that, we would not be sitting
around this table’ Committee member, Norfolk

There is also the collective consciousness of where we come from.
This is CULTURE and no one can escape this because we are product of our environment. This is transmitted to others by us either consciously or unconsciously.

This CULTURAL DIVERSITY is WONDERFUL and is communicated by ART. True we need to eat, sleep, have shelter and other basic things to exist, but we have NO REAL QUALITY OF LIFE WITHOUT ART !

Human history has shown that even the most deprived sectors of various societies have been able to raise themselves up above their impoverished condition through ART.
Is ART relevant today my friends?
"YES !" I SHOUT !
MORE NOW THAN EVER !
Today's UK Urban Society is faced with the most awesome challenges. ART has the remedy ! that is my belief, and I am not alone. Many people hold my view that the Youth of today are 'Culturally Aware'. Energies channeled into Creative, Positive, Expressive Arts can go a long way in dealing with the increasing difficulties encountered in the GUN, DRUGS, CRIME RIDDEN environment in our neighbourhoods much better than all the Legislation, Law enforcement ,Judiciary and Punishment.

ART is POWERFUL! It unites people around the world, it can change the world for the better more effectively than ANY religion.
All of you artists out there already know this of course ha ha LOL.
So it's up to you to waken up those around you from their cultural slumber.

Peace and Blessings to you all.
Paul(Jordie)Bennett of Wolverhampton

Posted by: Paul Bennett | May 7, 2007 10:53 PM

They communicate and share understandings that cross cultures and communities and can transcend the use of words, across a full range of art forms

They are a living force as well as a legacy of what is culturally and traditionally meaningful and aesthetically by people at differemt times and throughout time.

The arts can generate positive, critical and evaluative dialogue between generations.

The curriculum status and provision of the arts in schools and other educational settings should be raised, partly as a means of engaging learners but also importantly as a way of developing rounded people through humanistic education.

The Arts embrace literature, music,dance, the visual arts, drama, cinema and the culinary arts.

The Arts, therefore, are central to our lives.

We are arts - rich in Bournemouth/Poole having the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in Poole, Bournemouth having a philistine attitude to the rebuilding of the Winter Gardens.

We have drama, dance and other events at the Lighthouse, Poole and other events taking place at the Tivoli, Wimborne and the Regent, Christchurch.

We have a drama group in Broadstone/Wimborne, a light-opera group and a concert band.
The Bournemouth and Poole Further Education College have excellent music and drama departments.

This is not to say that city venues and larger scale performances do not have an important place, but a brief examination of the level of subsidies needed to support large venues who still have to charge high ticket prices tells its own story and raises questions about elitism.

There also remains within parts of ACE a retrenched attitude that reveres development of the art form above all else. The Art Forms will take care of themselves. The important thing is to get as much authentic live experience of performance out to as many people as possible. If expressions like "enabling organisations to thrive, not just survive" and "rural proofing" are to have any meaning, there needs to be a fundamental shift in the pattern of arts funding. The distribution structure merits just as much attention as the portfolio of producers and ACE should not shy away from judgements on quality. Some organisations should be allowed to die if they are not good enough.

Art is central to all of our lives, but not enough people know it.

To those who think that 30% or more should be stolen from arts funding to give to the Olympics. I say name for me the great athletes of the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th.. Okay I'll give you the 19th and 20th centuries, but if civilization survives the corrosion of globalisation, will it be the art or the sport of our time and earlier that will be remembered and celebrated by our descendants?

'When I was I little girl, the thing that really excited me about going to the panto was waiting for that smell of the sawdust from the stage to hit you, a few minutes after the curtain went up. From that point the show had really started, and it wasn't just about the actors, it was about the audience too. We were all involved. What's great about working for Live & Local is that I get that feeling every single time I see one of our shows. From the minute I walk through the door, it feels like a real 'occasion', and you can't help but be really involved when the performers are just inches away. And you get to share the magic right up to the end of the evening by having a drink with the performers in the local pub and even helping them load their van after the show - beats queuing up at the stage door for an autograph any day!'

'Live & Local is important to me because it allows people of all ages, backgrounds and interests a friendly and accessible means to experience something on their doorstep that they would not ordinarily have considered going to see.
The arts are important to me as a way of further exploring my existing interests and discovering fresh new interests and unexpected experiences.'

'Going to the theatre is a treat, going to a gig is fun and seeing something completely different can be really moving. Since working for Live & Local, my appreciation for the arts has increased so much. Our events are small, cosy and welcoming. Unlike a large scale theatre or arts centre, the audience get to meet the performers, and sometimes they get the chance to have a go on their puppets, masks, instruments etc. You are up close to the action, in a welcoming, laid back atmosphere. The community come together to enjoy themselves at Live & Local shows and there's no better reason than that as to why the arts are important!'

'It's fantastic to see a community getting together to enjoy a performance in a local venue. The atmosphere is always amazing, the performers really interact with the audience and everyone has a really special night out.'

My experience of art is from childhood I enjoyed arts of life and living as in everything we see, we do, we hear, feel and imagine. It stared from mimicing my mother’s arts and learnt to sit, craw and walk creaetively. I mimiced my mother’s foot-steps creatively of dancing, singing, carving calabash, spining cotton, making patterns and design on fabric, wall, extracted dye from leafs and dyed cloths, leather and grass in colours. I made my own bowls from raffia I took from palm-tree, cooking utensils from clay I took from clay pit, fetched water from river with calabash that grew in the sorroundings of my mother’s house. I mixed mud, sand and grass together with waterthat formed blocks for building house. I listened to story-telling, poetry and history passed down to me by my parents and elders in our house and comunity under baoba tree and under moonlight.

The importance of my expreince led me into campioning the campaigning for recognition of the role of arts in this society as a tool of life and living; in 1994 when I launched AWAD International Confernce as a debate for the pushing the role art to fore-front. The confernce was welcomed by The British Council who host the exhibition and invited Baroness Chalker to the event. The debate did not stop because sicne then Arts Council of England has gradually started changing their policies about the role of arts. It has taken Arts Council of England so long but I am very glad that having such a debate from The Arts Council is sign of success for grassroots African woman’s campaign and hope for proper recognition of the role of arts in society.

My life is different from many people in my own community because I am seeing as a grassroots woman with no doctorate degree and not a religious head-banger and oh!!! An artist? Many people in the African community ask “How can she survive with just promoting arts? what has arts got to do with poverty reduction? She does not believe in God that is why she promotes arts”.
My answer is through engagement in the arts, one becomes creative in all factes of life and able to live life creatively in reducing own’s poverty and improving others’ lives.
Through arts, I have been able to pass on knowledge, skills and reduce poverty in my community and trained unemployed African women graduates to utilise their brains and hands creatively for economic independent. Success story is a lady called Ehinome Oboh who was just a struggling cassual worker with very little income to survive with three childre. AWAD took her on, trained her and now she a community link arts officer for Manchester Museum. Another is Olayinka Arowosegbe is now the development officer for the Young African Development Foundation. Many trained by AWAD, are now working in Development education and Culture industries as Culture Explainers or have their own community group set-up. It is through the arts, I have been able to make a sigificant contribution to my communities poverty reduction – created relevant skills and led them into paid employment. Similarly, through enagagement in the artsAWAD helped emerged over 65 grassroots African women led community groups across England who now link and influence mainstream bodies work through arts in England and in Europe.

Arts has made me a visionary, missionary and a strong community leader; without my enagagement in the arts, I would not have been who I am today.

FUTURE?Arts should be used to address all facets of life as is the most important tool for education, impacting knowledge, communication, civic enagagement, conflict resolution, gender equality, age and community cohesion and in total giving people quality living.

My expectation for Arts future is that it should become an important tool to living life, transmitting knowledge to our young generation, for making the old happy and for connecting our divere world.
LET POLICY MAKERS KNOW! WITHOUT ARTS THE ENTIRE SOCIETY WILL BE IN MESS AS MANY PEOPLE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO UTILISE THEIR HANDS, BRAIN, EYES AND FEELINGS SO WE WOULD HAVE A HUGE POPULATION WITH MENTAL-HEALTH BREAKDOWN ACROSS SOCIETY AND GLOBALLY.
FUTURE? ENGAGE EVERYONE THROUGH AND IN THE ARTS.

Art is an outlet for identity and tradition. Both in participating and admiring the arts people can find a sense of identity and self. Particularly in the 21st century when so many people are removed or distanced from the traditions of their own culture.

The arts serve to document the social circumstances in which we exist. We rely on them to reflect our lives, our generation?s thoughts, our beliefs and priorities, our intellectual levels, our worries and concerns, our whole existence. Art helps to define who we are.

Lastly but no less as important, art is enjoyable. It brings pleasure to those who are involved. Be it dancing, painting, singing, listening, visiting, watching, the arts are vital to our social activities and are often a welcome relief and escape from our typically mundane and rather hectic lives!

The arts brighten our lives all over the world, and can break down barriers at the same time.

Now, coming to this country, I have been involved in AWAD International Network, which promotes the role of arts and encourages us to participate in the arts arena, this has helped me to appreciate myself better, I have regained my self - esteem and realise that I actually have a tool, which is my culture that I can adapt artistically in this environment.
I now appreciate the role of African art in the print and patterns of the clothes we wear here, music used all over the world, designs people used on their body, which some call tattoo.

Art to me is simply: Appreciation of diversity
Recreation of invisible to visible
Thoughtfulness