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Some people are passionate about the arts, going to a wide range of events and exhibitions and taking part in creative activities as often as they can. For others, the arts are a part of the fabric of their lives, something to be enjoyed with friends and family when the occasion arises. Some people don’t think of themselves as interested in the arts, even though they might go to the cinema, listen to music and read books. So what do the arts mean to you?
What arts activities do you enjoy? What do you get from those experiences, and why are they important to you? What role do the arts play in your life, and how is your life different as a result? Is there anything you would change about your involvement with the arts?
Are the arts important in your local community? If so, why? If not, why not? What role do the arts play in national life? Would you like to see the arts play a different role? And what are your expectations and hopes for the arts in the future?
Click on the image to access a PDF (990Kb) of the new summary report, What people want from the arts
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The arts are important to me because they are a documentation of contemporary response to the world we inhabit. Arts that communicate directly with communities are of particular interest to me personally. While I also feel the benefit of highly conceptualised art myself, I understand that the majority of people that live without art in their lives would feel alienated and perhaps patronised by some of this art. I also think that there is a place for many types of artform as the predeliction towards a certain type of artform can always be challenged and therefore open an individuals mind to the possibility of creative interaction and its benefits.
After the basic needs of food shelter and love the next most important human need is art.
Arts is in everything we do, conversation, cooking, lovemaking, running decorating the home. Every night our subconscious becomes a film producer hires a cast props and sets and puts on plays for us. We call this dreaming. We don?t understand why but it feeds our souls. We make vibrations in the air which make us happy or sad or jump about in strange ways; we call this music and dance. We don?t understand what these vibrations are but we need them. Art when you look at it closely is very strange stuff
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.
Art is god.
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!
art is central to the basic human need for development of cultural identity. Foe many people personal involvement is of central importance. This can be expressed through 'doing' sustained by enthusiasm, skill and self motivation and by 'seeing' developing appreciation, understanding and providing the important audiences all disciplines of the arts need. it fulfils the need to integrate cultural activity into every significant aspect of social and economic life, to meet local need and keep an identty within the wider global community.
The best thing about art today is the way that youngsters are encrouching onto the artistic scene.
The arts are a means of human expression. Everybody can do it (it doesn't mean that what is produced need be good). The best examples of it demonstrate what human wit, ingenuity or craft can create, in a lasting form that speaks to other people. Anything other than this is starting to veer towards pretension. Art isn't important in itself.
The arts - enabling us to look back at moments in time. Allowing a glimpse of what lies ahead and drawing us together in today.
One of the defining aspects of human kind. It needs to be treasured and developed in all its many forms.
I do not think of myself as an artist. I value art as something that can offer us all something of an escape from the nitty-gritty essentials of living. Relax by listening to some favourite music. Lose yourself in the surroundings of a picture gallery. Burn off some calories and dance to a new tune. Life can be tough for us all be it just finding the resources to pay bills or the more complex challenges of handling relationships with other people. Stuff that we might call Art generally isn't essential to life, but when we can experience it in its wide and vaired forms we have an opportunity to let our emotions work. Art can shock, please, mystify, satisfy, amuse. I value all of these possibilities. But let's not get too wound up by Art. Take it too seriously and we risk losing our grip on reality.
For me, the arts provide an opportunity to breathe. I have an eclectic taste which takes me to rock concerts,to art galleries, to ballet & to West End shows, through radio, TV, cinema and iTunes. There are a lot of people for whom the daily routine provides less joy and excitement than others experience but, on a day when there's a ballet in town, I'm upbeat, enthusiastic and excited. So I work better, enjoy my life more and develop another point of view.
Where I come from, many people agree that this backdrop is stimulating, both for the community and for the local economy. Why would anyone want to locate a new business in an area that reeks of apathy ? But, where there is a strong and vibrant local arts scene you have an enthusiastic and interesting community.
I've often observed huge crowds queuing in the cold and the rain to visit a new 'expo' in Paris and wondered what Britain would be like if we had the same level of interest and commitment to the arts.
I am a consumer of art because I'm not blessed with the necessary skills needed to create art. As such I need art because to me it seems to be a pursuit that results in life-affirming creation. The human imagination is endlessly creative; this forms a continuum throughout history that links us with lives lived and should humble our pretensions to allknowingness. When I look at a Da Vinci portrait or listen to a Montiverdi motet I'm aware of their inherent beauty, probably in a different way to contemporary viewers and listeners, but we both share a commonality of enjoyment that transcends time. Contemporary art could be doing for our age what others will enjoy in the distant future. This is what I value about the arts.
What do I value about art?
One cannot value that which is entwined into the human condition. From cave paintings to a Japanese tea ceremony we, as humans, can transform the hum drum and routine into a spiritual experience. The Pretentious and the self obsessed claim to "know" art but In the presence of true art, in whatever form, each person on the planet can be aware of , and lifted into, shared experiences trancending all perceived boundaries into which each becomes a whole. Binding our species as one life. There is no value on priceless.
Arts are a gift from God, a way in which we can outwardly express all that is in our hearts.
The arts are provocative and therein lies their value. Everyone has an opinion on the arts, providing a great talking point. Participatory arts, where people are hands-on and feel ownership, provoke learning and personal progression. For me, this is the most valuable aspect of the arts - where other methods fail, good quality arts activities bring communities together for communication, achievement and enjoyment.
I suppose that among the many things I love about all the arts is the strange paradox they always throw back at me: that they seem so inherently anarchic, unpredictable and unmanageable (a word I use advisedly, writing from within a Business School), while at the same time they are always, urgently, trying to give shape and meaning to greater or lesser lumps of the clay of human existence ? as if new order was everything and as if nobody had quite got the shape and meaning right before now.
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.
Let us expand this... a better question that a wider audience would understand would be
'What do you value about creativity?'
the books you read
the poems you write
the television you watch
the stories you make
the computer games you design
the songs you sing
the quilts you make
the bread you bake
the cartoons you draw
the scribbles you make
the styles you wear
the beat you make
the dance you leap
the pose you take
...all of it is art and creativity...the infusion of imagination into the world and we can't live healthily without it.
An afternoon spent with people in extremely rural communities who are having fun working together and at the same time creating some artistic piece which will form part of tomorrows history, should be sufficient to remind the cinics amongst us of the true value of the arts. FANTASTIC!
The (creative) arts industry provides me with an income to help support my family! Long may this continue!
A sensational work of art can leave lasting impressions on my mind, enough to render me speechless. I think it's important to let art take over a little bit because it's a chance to appreciate our own sensitivity and somebody else's creativity. It seems that there are few moments when we can really escape 'the present' but I think the few times I have, have been facilitated by art.
This is all very nice - but "art" should mean engaging with people and not just the establishment consumers of art (i.e. tiny minority). It's clear that in the UK today most people feel completely disconnected from both the practice and outputs of most Arts Council funded work. There needs to be a fundamental change -- don't ask me what it is -- but let's not kid ourselves that contemporary art practice in the UK has anything to do with 95% of the population.
art is a language. from ancient cave paintings to modern graffitti. some people prefer words, some actions, some art. some people don't understand some words, some don't understand certain actions and some don't understand some art. that's ok, that's just the way it is.
Firstly, I value the term 'The arts" more than I value the term 'culture'. The arts to me is a dynamic mix of ideas, nerve, verve, energy and the ability to challenge and provoke and if that does NOT happen it is called 'culture'. I am wary of the dumbing down trend in the arts in favour of cheap ,tacky, 'idealess' events for the masses. Art in all it's forms should make you THINK.
The arts for me represent an essentially purposeless activity which entertains me, in the sense of occupying my attention while forcing me to engage in a mental dialogue with the work and its author. In doing this it has two immediate results; the first is that I am confronted with the spirit of the past, as most of the music/art/literature on record is historical. The second is to keep me in touch with the present, without with I would soon fossilise. I do not engage in the arts in order to receive moral instruction except on my terms and from people I trust. An additional function is a social one, when engaging in joint music-making for example.
Art should enhance life, as the creat cathedrals of Europe, temples at Angkor Wat etc. have done. And as J.M.W.Turner did. But at Tate Britain his bequest is scattered and marginalised, and centre stage is given to a purely political statement which a group I led today agreed was not art.
Art is a strong medium of communication because it do not need any specific medium. It goes through emotions which lie everywhere and the overall effect depends on the receiver how he lets his senses be stimulated.This spiritual enlightment of art helps one to secure the appropriate, realistic and logical path towards the goal.
Art is food for the heart, mind and soul. xxx
Our essential nature is creative. In an institution controlled world, where we are conditioned to conform it is vital we learn how to freely express ourselves as individuals. Creativity is the path to freedom and world peace formed by a global community that celebrates the diversity and richness of the world and the life it supports.
Our collective creativity will enable us to aspire to a better way.
Art, in all its many forms, is a shared language through which we tell each other about the more profound aspects of our common humanity. . We are deeply touched by those expressions of shared existence we call Art and our lives are enriched as a result. Art reinvigorates us, it serves as an act of communion, it reminds us that we can still be filled with wonder at this crazy state we call being alive.
It's only when our imaginations are liberated that we become truly free, perhaps that's why it's not high on any government agenda.
The essentials needed to maintain life are breathing, eating, sleeping, and exercise, and surprisingly art (in all its forms) or culture. Without culture we would not know who we are or what we can and cannot do. We would be lost in a world we could not understand.
Pencilpoint 1.
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.
OK. After all these beautifully crafted sentences and intellectual musings, can I just say Art is sheer enjoyment. The joy of dancing, the love of writing, the pleasure of looking. Creativity and imagination is a wonderful human gift.
I value art simply for it's existence. Art is visual proof that people are trying to make sense of their culture and community. I value art in the same way I value my wife in that she is a sounding-board for discussions and a way of helping me evolve and change opinions or positions on things that concern me.
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.
For me, the greatest value of Art is that it is representative of and represented by people who question the culturally constructed environment around them. Art signifies all that i love about the world, freedom of expression, communication, imagination and complete and utter contradiction.
The main thing that interests me when engaging with any form of Art, is what I feel and what I think whilst standing in front of it, that experience is totally unique and my own. For me Art exists during the event, and in the mind of the audience when it is viewed. Like a photograph of a performance, the end product, is just an object. A document of a spectacle we were unable to witness.
The disciplines of the arts have many common qualities but each one also contains unique aspects. I believe the arts provide the most powerful form of communication that humans have. Music and the visual arts transcend the need for verbal language, verbal language only becomes necessary in the resulting expression of opinions. Arts that solely involve verbal language have limits within societies but even those limits can be overcome. The arts, in at least one form or another, have the ability to reach the soul of every human. It has the power of calming the soul and engendering a sense of self understanding and self satisfaction.
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.
What do I value about the arts? The opportunity to express an idea, appreciate someone else's, dance, sing and not care if it's any good or not, because I only did it for me. Art can be a solitary business, or involve huge numbers of people. What matters most is that whatever medium, it should mean something to someone. Life without art would merely be function.
Art is a way of seeing, It is a way of sharing, a way of showuing what you can do
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.
risk, innovation, the ability to laugh at itself and others, stumbling incoherence, stupidity in the face of failure, intelligence, discipline, persistence, indomitability. Oh for God's sake! You might as well ask what I value in my daughter.
Art is a way of seeing, It is a way of sharing, a way of showing what you can do,
Art s a way of expressing what you care about, what you don't and whatever you want to tell the world.
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
The 'Arts' are something that can be very easily forgotten in many peoples lives because they are too busy trying to earn a living only to become disengaged from the very core of their own being.
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.
The arts - it starts with individuals working in isolation who find a form in which their ideas can be expressed, and then find an audience whose lives are enhanced, and experience broadened through their understanding. So, to me, the arts are a two way process. If there is no audience, then art becomes a solitary and less meaningful entity. Once art can be shared, it starts to take on meaning. Art can be books, painting, music, theatre or dance, it can be the sculpture you glimpse in a shut shop window, the performance of a little known play in a small theatre, in a field or at the National Theatre, it can be a book printed in millions or in a small print run.
The Arts Council in co-operation with the Government should give more support to smaller art projects who wish to advance the education of the public especially in the Dramatic Arts. This does not seem to be happening at the present time.
To quote the Sessionists
'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!
Art is communication and therefore needs more than one person . If the message enhances their lives it will be listened to. If it appears to have no relevance it will not become popular . There is nothing wrong with popularity . It is not a dirty word . But to achieve this the communication should have a grain of empathy . If I were starving I would rather eat than go to the Louvre .Art is communication: Communication is the presentation of ideas . It is not saying this is the right and only way, but it is presenting an idea for consideration .whether in paint, poetry, theatre etc. , often subliminal and yet often with shock of hammer . If art does not communicate it is nothing but a toy for elitists.
What Value Art.
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 is not the artist that should be valued but what he has to say and the democratic right to say it .
Art is a major part of my life. I have seen first hand how art projects can bring groups of people together, giving them purpose, excitement and a sense of achievement. The best of such projects can offer an individual the chance of self expression and start a chain reaction within a community which reaches into the future.
For me art is akin to breathing and colour slakes a thirst. I expect I could live without them, but I wouldn’t want to.
The main value of art is thats it is purely personal, as an artist its an expression of feeling, emotion and purpose. As a viewer its all about gut reactions, the tingle in your spine if you see something that truely inspires you. Mainly its value lies with you, never let anyone tell you what you should like and appreciate, it devalues everything!
The arts are the most important aspect of life, because without this available form of expressionism or outlet, we get a lot of 'artist' that are hiding from themselves. I use 'artist' for all forms of the person within the Arts. As for the people viewing the Arts, they get just as much from it as the 'artist' who was involved in the form of the arts being done. When I read a poem I see what I need to see in it, when I see a painting, I see what I need to see in it. This expressionism or outlet is an outlet for all parties involved. If I were to see a play by shakespeare I see great performers, great writing and great, well everything, we'd hope anyway. However, performers, are more for the audience than say a painter, or artist in the usual form of the word. I think this because performers get the same outlet as the artist from what they do, but the audience are seeing a play or show that brings a certain culture to them. Obviously, it difficult to talk about all forms at once. However, I think I didn't do too badly to cover all forms. Therefore, the value of The Arts are more than anyone could put a price on!
I like art.
It's the freedom of thought.
What more could you value?
The arts should deepen our understanding of the world and touch us in a profound way. It troubles me that so much work today is pandering to certain fashions and cliques.
Much of what happens at Tate Modern is merely entertainment or frankly banal. An artist who is truly moved to create will do so without the need for subsidy.
If it is true that society gets the art it deserves I need say no more.
Art accompanies me through life. Whilst ART exists, I believe people are thinking.
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.
Art is evidence of intelligence- of thought, responses to the world around us and a need to express ourselves. Also a link to our past-the earliest archaelogical sites in europe have some evidence of Art, and a language that can cross territorial boundaries. I can't speak Japanese but I can admire the wood cuts of Hokusai, as readily as I enjoy holding a hand made mug from a local potter.
One thing I value about the Arts today is that the wide range of artistic expression is recognised as Art. This means that jewellery, pottery and textiles and even gardening are not looked down on as they used to be by "serious artists" who could only paint. Although that does mean I have to try and value an unmade bed as art...
The Arts fulfill us beyond the basic human need for food, shelter and survival, although anthropologists might tell us that its social function aids survival. The arts are a response to a powerful urge to make human existence in some way more meaningful and more valuable. The most important aspect of this is that nobody should feel excluded from this social cultural process and what happens in a community project is as important as what happens in a high profile establishment such as an opera house or a gallery.
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.
of course art is hugely important.
We can pick any bunch of words to try and explain why we think this. and as we can see from the above, any will do.
The key for me is to ask how important is nature in the broadest sense? And, how important is it to translate that which we see.
A couple of points. Firstly, we choose to live and behave the way we want to. If we don't like any facet of our life, whether it's our job, the town that we live, the woes of commuting, the shaplessness of our body - we can either complain or we choose to take the step of changing it. There is a sense of empowerment in this concept. The arts gives me a similar sense of empowerment. It educates me which enriches me, it gives me a whole new dimension to my life - its the icing on my cake. Ha! That sounds a bit weird...but what would a month be without a play, a lovely art exhibition, a moving photograph or a stunning film.
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 Arts has so many forms which everyone can join, appreciate or be part of in some way which enhances life.One does not need to be an artist to appreciate and value the arts. The arts for the public should take into account the traditional,sublime and everything between, offering new and exciting challenges to the mind as well as the expected and predictably enjoyable.Those involved in the all aspects of the arts have a responsibility to open doors for people from all walks of life, embracing every culture and its possible tastes and experiences and giving the opportunity to share those with others. What is art to one means something different to another so at no point will you please everyone.Involvement in the decision making processes would allow public opinion to be heard and ensure that money is spent on things which are going to be visited. At times the opportunity to see, hear and experience something different may not be taken, but if not offered then that opportunity is lost to all. The chances for small and sometimes unknown artists to gain help with funding can be the difference between survival as an artist and having to do other things and keep art purely as a hobby. Yet for many, the arts as a leisure activity or hobby is all that they require. In fact, a very deliberate act.So there needs to be a balance which allows all of this to take place for as many as possible to gain the most they can. The arts are important in some way, small or large to everyone, in some cases without realisation until the outlet is lost.Its all in the interpretation.
What area of the arts? What kind of art?
The question is pointless. All areas of the arts have value.
most people would agree that Bach and Rembrandt produced art of such depth and variety that one can return to it and find something new. Could the same be said of Gilbert and George or Tracey Emin? Is society so lost that we no longer produce things of trancendent beauty?
The arts, all of them can mean so much to people at all stages of their lives. I worked full time in the arts from 1969 to 1994 and sort of drifted out the field though in recent years I have started to creep back. For 20 years I promoted work in and for schools throughout Cumbria as well as a wide variety of events, promotions and residencies for the family and adult audiences. Today tears came to my eyes, again, when I was listening to Today and Roger Black's Olympic quest. When young schoolgirls in Hammersmith and Chelsea were unenthusiatstic about PE. Roger thought laterally and called Pineapple Studios and broght dancers into the school. Success!
In rural Cumbria I did something on the same line with Irie! Dance Theatre. Great tours, great work, dancing dinnerladies in Millom and workouts for rugby players in Barrow.
So many people in Cumbria found the arts to be part of their lives, helped by the hard work of the arts organisations in the county despite the vagaries of the funding structure.
So, what am I trying to say?
The arts are vital to society - but they may not be recognised. Certainly in my time, and I guess the situation has not changed much, the provision is remarkably cost effective - but a political football.
I now work full time in a totally different business - but I found my experience as an arts administrator incredibly useful when I had the job of sorting out and creating financial reporting systems for a marine supplies company in Greece. In a month or so the company had an accurate picture of income and expenditure and the dreaded monthly cash-flow, something the company had not had for over 20 years. Tight, accurate budgetting and flexible thinking skills were developed in the arts - and are in great demand in the outside world.
What is art? Is there room for that discussion?
A lot of what I worked on could not be regarded as 'art' but so much encouraged people to think and work in different ways and enhanced their - and others - lives. The thought change is important.
Finally I look back at prophetic comments written a number of years ago by John Pick where he wrote about the gray aliens entering the arts administration world. When I left in 1994 the gray aliens were taking over the arts - are they still there?
There probably isn't room to discuss 'what is art?'(see above) but the question was 'what do you value about the arts?'. I happen to value figurative drawing and painting, and taught drawing in Art Schools for many years. There isn't room to expand on why I feel this is so important to the development of an artist, but I have to say I am dismayed by the level of drawing tuition now and feel as though I am part of a dying breed-but I am proud to have passed on some much needed traditional skills.
I value the time and space that the arts give us to escape from the boredom and predictability of everyday life. I value the way in which the arts constantly surprise us by revealing beauty and truths that are not always apparent. I value the potential of the arts to subvert or challenge the status-quo and to change people’s minds. In short, I value the power of the arts to transform the world we live in.
Any introduction to an idea, place, thought, image that you haven't had yourself allows possibilities to exist where they had not. The result will not always be significant or necessarily positive but the collection of experiences over time allows an individual to understand and place themselves with others in relationship to the world, imagination and in seeking reason realise that it is not always purposeful against emotion.
28.2.07 Art helps me read the gestures, symbols, colours and signs that bring to mind the beauty and brevity of life. Art may be the Ark that saves us. Animals get ready - but you don't have to be in pairs if you don't want...
Art is very important too me. There isn't much of it in my community but my teachers help me as much as they can to do all sorts of things. Art is soooo important and everyone should have the chance to do it!
The value of any of the 'arts' to individual or group can only be expressed in terms of self satisfaction. Choice and discernment as to what pleases or displeases must always be the key to acceptability. If no choice is available no discernment as to value can be made. Choice can only be made available with resources. In many many instances where there is talent and desire to publically demonstrate this, there are no available resources and talent is wasted, oppressed and destroyed. Give the artists that which is required to sustain and develop whilst discerning worthy from unworthy and our heritage as a leading nation in respect and artistic acknowledgement of artistic talent will soon disappear. Examine the descendant state of amateur choral societies capable of convening a full orchestral accompanied work, be it opera or otherwise. In the borough where I am resident there has been no such activity for the past 25years and in a neighbouring one just as long. How sad to see, or rather NOT hear.This is why we need a robust funding agency with in depth knowledge of what can be generated at a local level and sufficient funds to ensure our inherited artistic life lives on.
In a world where the deapth, breadth and range of culture is being eroded faster than it could ever be replaced we need the Arts to save us, to point us in the right direction, to warn us, to remind that we are human... if we strip it away from our communities and do not adequately support it through its troubles, we have turned our back on civilisation. Let us not look back on this time in our history with shame, lets challenge these mandarins and make them, us and the world better!
For me the, Arts offer alternative opportunities to think about the world we live in—within and beyond our immediate horizon—and to explore possibilities of thinking and being. Alternative, that is, to standard media commentary and text book wisdom.
... and to do so reactively; for I do not expect the Arts to provide answers, but to pose questions that one may not formulate quite in those ways...
There is also the pleasure that arises from witnessing something well done, with care and flair/gusto...
Art allows the brain we have developed over millennia to carry on its evolutionary struggle for independence. This is a struggle against the desire of governments, religions, multi-nationals, the mass media, the milieux into which we were born, to do all in their power to prevent us from being independent of what is accepted. Art is the expression of our refusal to take anything on faith, of our determination ceaselessly to seek intellectual freedom and, once we have it, keep it at all costs.
What we are losing is quality, particularly in theatre and television. At one time there were theatres where people could learn their craft. Most of these have gone. Television programming is being made down to a price not up to a standard and the arts vodies should say so. Tabloid TV is of little use to our cultural lives. More investment needs to be made in all aspects of theatre and the media if it is not to fade away.
Although I'm not an artist, I see myself as more than just a passive consumer of 'the arts'and would consider myself a creative person. Where I am given the opportunity, I like to create, try, engage with and explore all sorts of forms of creativity. I don't necessarily feel the need to foist my creations upon audiences or a wider public, but it's important to me to be able to give at least some free reign to my creativity. I think it's important that opportunities to create, explore and try are offered to those beyond the 11-25 age bracket as well! (I'm still under the age of 30...)
What I value about art?
- 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'.
Like several of the other contributors for me the art I value is is about thought and the development of a critical mind, but it is also more than that. I believe that an important part of art is 'play', the overwhelming enjoyment of a seemingly trivial activity; the sudden inexplicable emotional reaction to form, sound or colour. Without art life seems bleak, tied to a relentless biological wheel.Art can be laughter and tears; a surge of joy or pain.
Art is not commerce or dialectic
Breathing
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.
This winter I had the privilege of writing poetry about the Ashes Tour in Australia www.ashespoetry.net
I was funded by Arts Council England, (more than matched by in-kind contributions from BBC and other agencies, plus three thousand hard cash from my own pocket - I know how to get in line to dispatch any rough stuff)
Part of the Grant for Arts application was a poem about the Arts Debate
Sixty Not Out - Arts Council England 1946-2006
The hardest part is the start,
knowing how to proceed, justify
and develop proven justifications
into significant progress.
Matters that count
to be enjoyed and remembered
more for what they give
than the acts themselves.
This is the art that makes art.
Sixty not out is not too bad for players of class.
Taking guard straight after VE Day
there have been numerous difficulties,
periods of uncertainty, sticky wickets,
unfavourable conditions, the odd play
and miss, opportunity, mix-ups in the middle
and occasionally benefit of the doubt.
It takes some skill and effort to reach sixty not out.
Players of class look towards a century,
a big ton or more. Once set it should follow
however hard the bowlers of perfection bellow
to turn the umpires of opinion against themselves.
The art that makes art must not stand apart
from artists nor detractors, but face their deliveries
and make more of them in setting the score.
In other words, take a deep breath and try it for yourself before coming to any opinion.
If you don't, you can't really say you're living, can you?
I have been employed by the arts for most of my adult life, so I value the the arts as my employer. This has been across both the private and public sector.
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.
I am a keen follower of the arts, both art and music, and try to take in a live performance or exhibition at least twice a month. It is essential that these are readily available for all and sundry and more schools should find the time to take children from an early age.
Government funding should be increased and should NOT go sideways toward paying for the Olympics.
Obviously all arts need to be supported to help develop human beings
intellectual aspirations, but I
feel that popular culture has become
increasingly relevent in opening up
the imaginations of a very large
number of people, which is why some
distance between commercial considerations is necessary in order
to produce a less homogenous artistic landscape. I feel it is also relevent to support artistic endeavours that are not merely carthartic for the artist concerned
but attempt to reach a wider audience by also trying to entertain
people. After all some of the greatest novels and music has managed to combine these two areas.
Flicks in the Sticks in Shropshire is a fantastic way of getting films out to people in rural areas. We showed The Queen in our village hall had 82 people who would otherwise have had to travel 15 miles to see it. And it provided great revenue for our village hall.
Art is art
Art is sky
Art is black
Art is white
Art talking thoughts
Art rocking thoughts
Art is colourful butterfly
Art is colourful chatterfly
Art is colours, colours are people, People are mindful artists, Artists are divine.
Divine is truth. Truth is forever.
Dipak Joshi
Art is a coming to terms and an act of resistance. It is a tipping of the scales of reality towards some transcendent equilibrium. Against all odds, it is an act of hope. The artist peers into the void and creates. The artist says: I shall confront reality and make something beautiful. I like art that offers me this, that has an almost moral sense of responsibility to engage and seek to understand. I like art, in all its myriad forms, that makes me want to cry because it affirms that there is a greatness about being alive.
Art is all about living, not existing. Although slobbing in front of the TV or playing computer games has its place, anything which helps us go beyond ourselves has got to be better.
One of the biggest killers is not keeping our brains active. Art is interactive whether we are looking at it, watching it, making it, performing it. It gets our brains going, it gives us something to talk about, it gets us out of the house.
Art is not an optional leisure activity.
It is as important as excercise and education.
And even if you don't enjoy art in the conventional sense, it can still touch your life through how we live and how we think.
"Indolence, Pessimism, Decadence!"
(Now my rallying cry. Thanks Catherine)
'the arts' is a problematic phrase. First it seeks to conflate 13 or so different media - dance, theatre, painting, song, poetry, etc. Second, in so far as public funding, civic installation and academic endorsement is concerned, 'the arts' seeks to discriminate between what is included and what is excluded. What is excluded (I confine myself here to only one of the arts, namely Art, formerly figurative painting and sculpture)is charachteristically superior to what is included. (For example, compare Escher with Mondrian, or Klarwein with Emin.) Therefore, there is a quality control failure and ideological bias scandal. Third, each of 'the arts'conflates old and new, antique Art and antic Art. The drawback here is that any justification for funding the curating of antique Art leads to the funding of antic Art.
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.
paul miskin whoever you are i second that!
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 have been asked to respond to this consultation as Artistic Director of Border Crossings (www.bordercrossings.org.uk), which is an intercultural arts organisation, and my answers will of course be coloured by that perspective. But I feel that what we offer, as a company working in intercultural theatre, is in many ways representative and characteristic of art more generally, and is able to highlight the incredible value of art and culture in any society.
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.
It kind of goes without saying that art can play many roles for many people, but for me it is most valuable as a means of understanding the culture that I live within, making meaning in the present and giving access to "the spirit of the past" as someone wrote above. We currently live in a society that has allowed commerce and naked capitalism to colonise its every corner. It is all the more important, therefore, to value and support the arts for the sake of giving us an alternative system of interpreting the world that is perhaps sometimes critical, anti-rational, complex, non-verbal and generally humanist.
The arts allow us to look at life from a different angle; they give us space to question; they offer unique opportunities to be involved and take us away from the mundane. Quite simply, they change lives.
If I had to sit and ponder my existence with an ageing mother, a disabled son and a rageing emotional teenage son without the help of the worlds brought to me by books, the colour brought to me by film, painting and form brought by sculpture, plus the ideas given to me by challenging art, what would be the point in my mundane existence of drudgery? How would I learn to empathise with other people who may be in worse situations than I, if they didn't express something about their own lives that they could communicate to me?
The ability to express reflections on our own existence is fundamental to what distinguishes the human species. The more developed it is (through art), the more developed we are.
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.
I'm 15 and I value art alot. Without art I wouldn't be creative. Art is amzing and helps me to express my feelings. x
art not only helps people express feelings, but also in identifying and expressing identity. It gives opportuntiies to develop skills, set personal challenges and to support enjoyment. It is a useful means of managing stress of life in advanced capitalist societies and in brdinging cultural divides and social schisms. It values difference and diversity and encourages the expressions of these qualities. Uniquely, perhaps, it is enjoyed actively (by performes, participants) and passively( by audiences, viewers) and leads to indvidual, group and collective wellbeing.
What my group and I value about the arts is that we are given a chance to work with established artist and benefit from their experences also about how art is presented and in what form so many different ways someone like me just didn't appreciate just what can be classed as art. Working in partnerships getting away from everyday deprevation making someone happy seeing our younger generation learning from older people; older people learning skills from our young artists, having fun doing it taking ownership of your own life whilst giving something to others. Helps people to relax learn new skills find the artist with in one's self. Art is a very valueble communications skill. A very valueble tool.
arts are truths reflections of what one lives and what one sees, of what one is!!!
I have strong beliefs that the arts play a very important role in out lives, even though some of us don't realise it. I personally enjoy seeing small productions by people who love what they do, listening to new music by local bands, viewing the pictures that a friend has taken, listening to a storey that someone dear to me can relate, or enjoying painting that a loved one has created.. all this after all, is art, but on a more personal level. On a wider scope, I enjoy learning from art. It can teach you to view things from a different angle, or open your eyes to the diversity within the local community. Art should be valued & cherished & taught to children at an early age in school and at home. We should support them in anyway we can. Thank you to all you artists out there, however big or small your contributions are.
Art is important on a number of levels, not being an artist in any way I appreciate others who have the ability to produce works of art whether they are pictures, sculptures or song etc. A song can remind me of a place or a person, a picture can transport me back to a place or a film can evoke thought. I have taught in a prison and the art classes were a fundamental path to self discovery for some of the population. To create something of beauty and care for it was a way of making them review choices in their own life.
More can be done for modern composers - with regarding to funding and commissions etc.
My son had 2 orchestral works broadcast on Radaio 3 each lasting about 20 minutes. 2 years on the performing fee for the two was £2.66 half of this had to go to his publishers.
We should be thinking more about Government on the arts and less on spending on the Olympic games - the soul is equally if noy more important than the physical part of our being.
Thanks for the wallet. I just blogged about it. see http://uk.blog.360.yahoo.com/kathleenzbell "Delights of Free Art" as follows:
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.
Wasting money on rubbish like free wallets isn't what the Art Council should be about. I read in the paper about the Art Council complaining about having it's funding cut, but if you spend tax payers money on things like this, you must have too much!
Access and aethetics foremost, Beatifiking thereby, committment, discernment, ecology, economy, energy, feedback, fortune, goodness, highness, intuition, innovation, joy, kinetics,love, mastery, novelty, overtime, politics, religion, science, taxonomy, treatment, unity, verity, waywardness, X, yes, Z too...
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars" Wilde.
In the tawdry, uncultured and money orientated nation that we have become "the stars" are the works of art, be they musical, literary visual or any other form of creative expression that takes your fancy and you choose to call art.
art is good but people think when kids r doin art it is grafiti
Art is what transforms the mundane into beauty. Without art the city would be a very drab place.
Art is a cultural expression of who we are in the times that we are living. It should be above being politically devisive.
Great Art should transcend the time in which is produced and speak to us through the centuries - crossing the boundaries of nationhood and class.
The Arts enrich us as human being. They express our humanity; they provoke thoughts about important elements of life, and draw our attention to other peoples' situations. They bring us together as a community
What i value about the arts is its ability to transport you into another world; particularly when that world is different from yours or what you perceive. We are all navigating the same or similar waters but in an individual or unique way that has meaning for us. With the arts in general, one can discern the humanity and human drama within. Film, in particular, engages one optimally. Altogether all the arts illuminate our creativity and imagination. I believe the arts have magical and enduring values that are intrinsic to humanity as a whole.
Take the reverse perspective: life without art. Everything for a reason, practical, logical, systematic, defined, predefined, predicted, repetative, relentless. All the dull bits of our world from which we use art to escape. Flat square buildings. Concrete gardens. Easy maintenance, high efficiency. It would be so completely wrong, we need to ensure the arts endure so that we do too.
Art to me is an appreciation of creativity. The human body is an artistic creation in itself. I write free verse poetry and for me it is an expression of a feeling, or moment, a view or a person.
I enjoy all forms of art, music, painting,poetry, sculpture, tapestry, even the art in nature. Sometimes, it can be an individual personal experience, sometimes, it can be a national or international event. I once attended an exhibition at the Tate Modern and watched a short film, called Stegosaraus, which showed a naked man dancing in front of a camera, making his own live art montage, in the scene there was a small soft toy stegosaraus. After the initial amusement and awareness of his naked dancing, I began to observe the reactions of the other members of the public to this film. They soon became my focus; what they didnt realise was, for me they were starring in their own 'living' art moment. Art, expression whatever you want to call it is around us all the time and cannot be avoided. I suppose it is another thing that makes us human, that we aware of our creativity, whereas other members of the animal kingdom are not.
the arts areimportant to me bwecauswe they represent what a country and its people can do they also represent culture it that art is part of our heritage
The human ability to create art distinguishes us from the rest of the animal kingdom. The arts have the ability to:-
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 value the arts for arts sake, for enjoyment and culture, and for pushing artform boundaries, redefining what art is, and bringing happiness and escapism to peoples lives, enabling people to fulfil their potential and providing alternatives to the mainstream. I value the role the arts play in meeting social objectives, but I don't believe this is the primary role of the arts.
art-ART-arT-Art-aRt-ArT
TOUCH
SMELL
SEE
HEAR
EXPERIANCE
EVERYTHING CAN BE!
I enjoyed reading everyones views they made me think .M>F 13th Feb I found interesting
What do you value about the arts
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.
I value the arts for asking why?
The arts allow us to look at and judge ourselves without risk of condemnation.
Hey Im a student at parliament hill school na dim in yr10. I think that their needs to be more things for kids in my age group revolving around arts. Espcially in local areas. There's nothing to do for teenagers anymore that are exciting, so that's why alot of the kids my age are hanging around on the streets, taking drugs, partying heavily. What is it coming to? I think if there were art projects going around for people in my age group around local areas, then it might help them to get off the streets and do something constructive in their spear time instead of resulting to drugs and acohol. Parent's need to feel there kids are safe now, but their not. Arts need to be introduced to local areas. Give us something to do. Youths don't want to hang around on the streets they need something to do. It really annoys me that people wonder why youth's are on the streets. Well there's nothing constructive to do.
How much does the Arts Council's agenda, possibly set out by a predominantly Political requirement, effect art?
Can art still be "the liberation from constraint" (Bretton)?
Arts to me is the immediate form of humanity and is the potrait of the thinking of an individual as he sees the world. The best art would be that of a new born baby who would not be corrupted by the society no matter where he or she lives.
Art is the common ground due to which people can develop their frienship. You can see what a person might be like if you listen to his or her comments on a specific form of art.
Art to me is something that someone has thought about and taken alot of time doing so to both develop and create their piece.
To be honest i hate this brainless modern art, for example i hated Tracey Emin's messy room, if thats art, my room will sell for millions, and then i heard about her makeing a bed cover range? thats hilarious shes produced white bed sheets that will be overpriced because they are art? its plain terrible.
But to answer the question, art to me is something that inspires, makes me go away and remember it because of its brilliance, not because it was appalling.
I find it difficult to value just one area of the arts. All forms of art have something about them, a sort of magnetic energy that makes everone talk. Art lover or not everyone is talkin when an artist creates a piece of work that is strange. The Angel of the North was seen as an awful waste of money and yet it's now a symbolic representation of the North-east; not only our industrial heritage but our cultural future. The North-East of England is rapidly becoming more cultured and any art that can be presented is of value because it makes people talk. When Spank the monkey opened at Baltic and around Newcastle I was on the Metro and when we passed through Jesmond; where part of this street art is exhibited an elderly couple noticed it and were appauled and assumed it was done by youths. By the time I finished explaining to them it was art - a form of art available in the public domain - they thought differently, they didn't like it but they did think about it. If an artist creates art and people like me don't talk about it then its pointless. Tracey Emin has even said "Whats the point in being an arist without an audience". All art has value, its a matter of how we as individals and groups percieve it.
I am a painter of works that are proudly non-contemporary. When I think of the term "the arts" that immediately translates to the "art establishment", an establishment that perpetuates a culture of disposable art - those dreadful "installations", an establishment that offers no value to me whatsoever! Thanks to the establishment, great paintings; paintings that DO endure, can now only be seen in museums, not galleries.
Art is everywhere, from a child's drawing to a thought in your head created by a view or a flower. Art should not be pretentious - everday life contains art in all its forms and we need to celebrate all the little things as well as the big expressions of emotion and thought. My most precious piece of art is from my child.
the arts offer an alternative view on life. serious subjects, humour, high art, fine art...whatever. A break from the pressures, dishonesty and vicious self interest that pervade western culture.
When the duplicitous protestions of charlatans begin to overwhelm, take a step back and contemplate on art - to return refreshed to the rat race.
The arts, as many have said, is not one single entity, no more than "culture, media and sport" is a single proposition. It is impossible to say where 'the arts' begins and ends. Can the conversations that spill out onto the street after a theatre play be called 'the arts', or the shadows that one notices on the street walking home after an exhibiton? The blurring and connection of artistic works to life is something that I value but this is something that can also be said of a washing powder advert on the television. This too takes something of 'the arts' and connects it very directly to life. We should therefore distinguish between what is the nature, or potential, of 'the arts' and what we value most in 'the arts'.
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.
BBC Radio 4 yesterday evening transmitted (The Archive Hour) a review of the career and beliefs of Denis Healey - the greatest Labour Prime Minister we never had. Towards the end, in an interview clip with Healey he said something like (I didn't get the exact wording down in writing) "my cultural hinterland is what has made the politics tolerable" and he went on to describe serious music, literature and art as the key media he personally valued and found to be indispensable to a fulfilled life. Sounded authentic to me from an abnormnally honest and intelligent (though not notably modest!) politician. How very different from the shallow opportunistic Blair and his present ultra-loyal Secretary of State for Culture...
I know everyone is entitled to their opinion here but I would just like to say in response to ninian owen's comment, that paintings can be viewed in galleries, to my knowlegde Tate Britian and Modern are both galleries not museums. Where I admit I am a fan of contempoary art I respect that it would not exist today without the history of fabulous and exceptional paintings of the past. It would be interesting and of great value if paintings came back into the artworld more but times change and the installation is now popular. Where contempoary art may seem like absoulte rubbish I must raise the fact that contempoary art has a mission to question our own thoughts and ideas. If art of any kind can not make the audience think of feel then of what value is it? If I find myself looking at a painting or a contemporary installation and see nothing in it; no hidden symbology, no direct statement about current affairs or anything else of such standing then what do I feel? I can't find value in art unless it questions. Ninian owen does raise a point but in response to your comment I just have to point out that all art has value in some manner its how we look at it that makes it of value. As you say you are an artist I would have thought that you may find away to appricate all mediums within art even if you don't like them. I try and find something meaningful in all art - something the artist wants the viewer to see. A kind of magic that is within all art.
People who claim that art has no value live a blinkered life - they do not realise how art infiltrates and influences every moment of the life.
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.
I have worked in the arts for over forty years - but the arts is valuable to me not just job or a source of income. The arts are life enhancing and life enriching and are for EVERYONE TO ENJOY. The arts are part of our heritage and our future and must be accessible. Arts funding is vital and must be protected. Encourage sponsorship and lottery funding for the arts by all means but the core funding must be sufficinet for an organisation to fulfill its purpose effectively and must come from the public purse.
Ask yourself whether an un-made bed or a line of bricks will endure in the mind not merely as cliches! It just seems odd to me that galleries are dominated by works outside the context of some familiar formal structure when it is patently true that the very best is not usually like that. Unthinkable me thinks in music and literature! In the words of Eric Morcombe "all the right notes, just played in the wrong order"
I value the inspiration of the arts amongst other things. There is nothing better to open your mind than going to a gallery such as The Baltic or seeing a massive piece of public art being built in your local town (Chester-le-Street), even in its early stages, under wraps and clad with builders - it inspires me.
For me art is about the magic that is created within a theatrical setting. There has always been something magical about live art being created in front of your eyes.
I believe that theatre can be an inspirational education to all. It is true that for my self, when being involved in the creative process a huge buzz consumes me. It is therefore very important, when putting all the aspects of theatre into the huge melting pot, that we introduce it to children as soon as possible.
The arts has been a massive aspect of my life. it has shaped the way I think about things and theatre certainly has the power and source to pass this vibrant message on. Theatre is for the masses rather the the few.
finally and most importantly the arts is a great development that entertains, educates and lets all of us have fun. It is a visual benifit to our community that lets us come together and sould be treated as so by the ruling and powerful sources.
The Arts are important for many reasons - all of which are valid for different people at different times and from different cultures. Sometimes they capture the essence of humanity; sometimes they dehumanise. An informed artistic appreciation allows us to distinguish between the two.
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.
The arts have been a part of my life since I was born, my mum and all of her closest friends were always involved with the arts so it's something I've been brought up with. Whether it be music, art, theatre or books it's important to me.
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.
nothing?
Whatever the medium, an artist's work can tell us about our traditions or tell us about our present or imagine something about our future. It becomes really interesting when the artwork is intended to show us one of these and ends up telling us about the others.
Art is visual communication.
Speaking is an art. It is a skill.
As visual communication, in a world of no art (to myself) this would show that we have lost the people who have the true powers to observe.
Losing art is like losing the English language.
The value of art is phenomenal. It is speaking in silence.
Why do so many people in this debate elegise about what they think Art is! Isn't that missing the point somewhat! The debate is about the value of "the arts" to presumably help direct the arts council in funding future arts projects using our money.
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?
I might be wrong but it looks like a lot of comments have been duplicated across the different discussion areas - making it look as though there are a lot more responses than there actually are. Has anyone else noticed this?
In general we don't remove posts. We have noticed that a handful of participants have reposted a comment in a second forum. When they appear to be doing this to make the same points relevant to a different question, we think that is fine. In a few cases the same copy has been used multiple times and we have removed the extra versions.
Art opens and broadens peoples minds, Art inspires, Art influences, Art allows people to express what thier feeling inside, Art brings people together to collaborate and create imaginative, vibrant, breathtaking masterpieces,
Art stimulates the mind.
Art opens and broadens peoples minds, Art inspires, Art influences, Art allows people to express what thier feeling inside, Art brings people together giving freedom to collaborate and create imaginative, vibrant, breathtaking works of art, Art stimulates our minds.
Imagine if you can a world without the arts...
They do more than merely hold the mirror up to nature: they celebrate, cheer, console, lampoon, lament, awaken and so on. The list of how they can touch every one of us is endless. Reason enough for their survival.
Art is the voice of creativity.
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.
Because when the artits plays with animal health I think there is no art. Because first comes life and second the arts.
How do I know what it is to be another human being?
How do I know what another human being feels?
How do I locate my own feelings and perceptions with those of others?
What is it like to be you?
Art- whatever the form- is what we have to express the above, and define our humanity.
Art is a teacher, art is a thinking and a teaching. Art is a creation of nature. Arts is vital in the ulticultural society of Britain!
Its important that we fund the community arts and those organisation which stems out of community and reflect the needs of the community. If certain activities brings all members of the community and enhances the social cohesion and integration agendas then Arts Council has a moral obligation to fund those activities and the infrastructure cost of those organisations. Without some injection of funding in infrastructure cost, an organisation cannot continue to survive and deliver high quality well organised events. Currently the arts organisation in the BME community is suffering the most as they are insufficiently funded in all fronts. One example I wish to give when an Asian organisation promotes arts activities through Diwali, Arts Council refuses to fund it more than once, thinking that they are promoting 'faith'. It is not the case at all! Arts Council does not have the foresight to see that various aspects of Diwali celebration which are arts related, can be used to spread the knowledge of Asian culture among the wider community through educational programme and through events that are open, provide equal access and creates an opportunity for ALL in the community to enjoy and value this cultural exchange. Arts Council needs to see this kind of activities as 'an art form' rather than 'promotion of faith'. Arts Council needs to broaden its thinking and embrace 'Cultural Diversity' as it stand, in its entirity. I am not saying that Arts Council should fund Diwali event all the time but Arts Council should look at the programme content of an organisation and assess whether or not majority of the programme (95%) can be considered as arts and involves the community or not. Involve a member from the Asian community with arts experience to judge the application.
I agree with Helen Lloyd said at 12:37 PM, 02 April 2007. Lets make arts for everyone all coomunity and treat all with respect and trust. The cultural diversity officers must be an advocate of arts rather than 'policing' the arts organisation on behalf of the Arts Council. Some Diversity officers, of Arts Council are very inexperience and the Arts Council relys on their limited experience which are damaging the arts in the BME sector.
Community arts led activity is important to communities especially rural communities where access to high quality arts is reduced. These voluntary communities are delivering their own arts led projects without the help of the Arts Council. The arts is still perceived as visual and performing arts and we must get away from this to ensure that 'the arts' are inclusive of all creative practice including music, media, dance and popular culture. This is how we engage our young participants in the arts.
Society seems so fragmented, and is generally angry at itself and others. Art experiences, calm the soul and stimulate the mind and make the observers think creatively rather than agressively.Artists are not usually "in it for the money" they are in it to express themselves. More power to them
Art has been and is an essential ingredient to every human culture on this planet. It has various functions within cultures, nations and societies; in effect art actually defines a culture, nation or society. It's hugely important to our sense of belonging but also to our development. Art covers a broad range of artistic expression from the traditional to the cutting edge contemporary and so it should. Contemporary art often provokes extreme reactions; it challenges perception and helps us broaden our horizon and develop as cultural beings. By the same token traditional art, be it theatre, paintings, classical music,etc. gives us an idea of where we are coming from and what has been moving and driving us.
Life without art is just the dullest and most depressing thing I could imagine. The inspiration we receive from enjoying art(or sometimes not enjoying it at all!) is an invaluable source of energy - not only in our personal lives but in our society as a whole.
Asked recently what is important about theatre - Sitting with your society or community and experiencing something together.
Being emotionally moved beyond normal daily life
Being inspired to perhaps look to something new in life
Seeing our political or historical or social events being put into a different perspective
Creating understanding of other cultures, races or religions
Reminding us of our culture
Having your imagination broadened beyond what you thought was possible
Feeling extreme joy or sadness
Seeing what human beings are capable of in music, song, dance, drama or other performing arts.....it could inspire to make people want to experience or try something themselves
To have direct and live contact with the arts rather than filtered through another and unsuitable medium like television....to experience how powerful the arts are....
The arts are what makes life exciting for me - visiting exhibitions in particular can be very stimulating and the effects can be long-lasting. Often I don't know what is going to linger in the mind and provide inspiration for my own writing or thinking. I love the fact that Britain has so many free entry exhibitions/ museums etc. This means that we can revisit favourite paintings, drop in for a few minutes if we want to and decide when to pay for a special event. Living in a rural area I appreciate both the arts available locally and the national centres of excellence.
Life without the challenge, beauty and inspiration of the arts would be a drab and impoverished business.
The arts to me are my job and a favourite pastime. Both as participant and as an audience member. I find some arts experiences familiar, comforting or entertaining, including watching theatre, knitting, reading a book or salsa dancing and some more challenging like conceptual art or contemporary dance. But I never feel that a work of art is a waste of time, space or money. Where it has meaning to the artist, participant or a single audience member it has the power to transform lives. The arts need to be taken seriously in terms of their power to meet government agendas locally, whether this be through; encouraging creativity across education; transforming the environment around us; providing a creative pursuit for someone who really needs it or in countless other ways. I feel privileged that the arts have always been a part of my life and it shouldn’t be like that. The arts should not be just for the privileged.
I think that creativity is massively important in life because it improves self-expression and the way we communicate and interact with others. I am employing the term the arts in the broadest sense because I don't think that it is a divisive term. Creativity is a behaviour rather than just a discipline. Whether it is about cooking your dinner, reading a book or painting a canvas all these things enable one to take time out and reflect away from the humdrum of the nine-to-five.
The arts are fascinating and stimulating. They bring people from vastly different walks of life together, to consider ideas.
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.
I value my own imagination and the imagination of others for the joy it brings to my life. Artists create their own rules and teach us to remember to play and that the world and life is a process. Their is no comparible experience to having your imagination sent on a flight by a beautiful passage of dance or writing or music. The value of a breath is that it is fundamental to the continuation of human life, it is surely no accident that we use the word inspirational to describe those great moments of creative energy which bring about memorable artistic ideas.
The arts are an opportunity for you to indulge in escapism. They offer the opportunity to reflect, discuss, to create and to enjoy. Take away the arts and you destroy the imagination
the power of zero - we know when it's not there
The arts are critical to the strength of a community, its history, health, education, economy and future. Without the arts there would be no architecture, product design, fashion, television, music, radio... need I go on. This is such an old debate. If you don't know the value of the arts by now then you have been either living in a cave (with no wall paintings) or you live in purgatory. So there!
It is quite extraordinary to me that Britain as a country can't fund the best Olympics ever and keep up its funding to the arts. We are constanly being told we are one of the richest economies in the world - I am pretty sure that had we been told before the Olympic bid that we would have the games at the expense of other cultural activity support for the Olympics would have been less.
I am not an avid Labour supporter but this is the sort of action one would have expected from the Thatcher regime not a socialist government, even one that calls itself "New Labour".
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.
We need art of all kinds to help us make sense of the things we do and move forward
our understanding of history is shaped by art and we need it to help us shape the future
The arts provide an opportunity to step away from the details of our lives, to reflect on our lives and the lives of others, to learn about different cultures, and to develop new understandings of issues that have relevance for our lives.
It's like a reflection of our deepest emotions, to not have it, it would be like living without a condition of human life.
Fund arts animateurs. Fund the concept of arts animateurs.
Fund Carnival production/education at grass roots levels properly so that the tools to create spectacles on the road are in the community's care.
Art is an essential part of my life, although nto quite as important as air or food!
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".
With my work hat on, I love introducing new audiences (from young children to old rockers!) to music or dance performances that they perhaps wouldn't have thought of going to themselves. The arts can be many things, from profoundly serious stuff to extremely silly stuff but it can have a huge surprise and delight factor, which really makes a difference to people's quality of life, sometimes just for a magic few minutes and sometimes for ever. We have a fantastic range of arts on offer in this country (although city folk tend to get a bigger share than non urban and country areas).
Watching music and dance, going to see plays or films, reading books and listening to stories can help us to understand other people's points of view and their cultures and beliefs. Art can spark our own creativity and imagination. It can help us to celebrate life's ups and help us to cope with life's downs. The arts are good for us from cradle to grave - and a country without culture would be a sad place to be.
Art is what brings us closer to who we are - Creators! Art is me, art is you, it makes us...
Sometimes it is a sunset. Sometimes it is a painting. Sometimes it is the noise of a steam locomotive. Sometimes it is a rock band. Sometimes it is a TV programme. Sometimes it is a phrase in a book.
Things in life can be both art and science. I feel better for looking/hearing/smelling/touching them etc. etc. etc.
Arts is one of the fabrics that are woven to make the world as it is today. Without them, what would we be? The world would be grey, boring, and pointless.
All of the arts are amazing, it allows us to stretch our inner creativity, wether it be acting in a TV programme, or being in a band or a singer, its all down to the arts! The arts are for everyone,(some of us just havent discovered it yet!), and it allows us to reflect and use our deepest and most heartfelt emotions, and make them into something the world wants to see.
Surely we all agree?
I value the arts because without them we would be merely animals. I think the arts, music literature, music are what really make us human.
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 allows you to find feelings that you didn't know you could feel.
The Arts helps you to explain how you're feeling, and why you're feeling it.
That's why I love it!
The arts gives you a freedom as an individual - you alone can say what art means to you and there should be no restrictions about 'good' or 'bad'. Working with children and families allows me to witness at first hand how liberating art is to people who have never been encouraged to explore, experiment and value their own opinions.
Call it art or call it something else, art has played an integral part in the development of the human race. Art has made a positive contribution to the world - bringing communities together as both artists and audiences. From science to religion, art has shaped, formed and influenced every aspect of the the world we live in. Art is very important to me - in my personal life everything that I do is affected by some form of creativity - from DJing, to watching a live band, to the cinema. My professional life is all about bringing diverse communities into different creative experiences. The arts bring together different people, brokering a better understanding of our global neighbours and the worlds landscape of diverse art forms, stories and ideas.
I value the arts for a number of reasons, some of which have been validated by research and others that are unmeasurable. But before I touch on the values of the arts we must make it clear that these values are specific to the arts through participation either as an audience member or a maker/performer and not a value given to arts organisations or especially the arts council england.
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.
I challenge anyone to spend a day without being influenced by "the arts" - even if you spend the day under a duvet it will still be designed by someone. We need funding and the creative economy is rapidly expanding - do we want to be left behind? We need to invest in imagination.
This debate is interesting but are we preaching to the converted?
Live performance, both by emerging companies in small studios and makeshift spaces - right through to big shows with big budgets in established venues. Live theatre is oxygen and communication as well as humour, love, entertainment and a reason to get through some of the more drab elements to life.
Are we to consider this term 'art' inclusive or exclusive? This question (inevitably) continues to haunt art into the 21st century, and will probably do so into the 22nd and beyond. Despite all of our greatest efforts to define and redefine what comprises 'art' throughout history, there remains considerable difference between notions of art in the narrow sense as a profesion and in the more broader sense as an element of everyday human existence. Does anyone else ever wonder though just why it has to be that we all (and this certainly includes the Arts Council) perpetually agonise over the need to remove this distinction? Is it not possible to acknowledge and appreciate art in both its guises?
I think the Arts are a fantastic medium in engaging with people who have been traditionally marginalised within communities. Arts should be embedded in all our work when working with communities.It's a great community development tool that can contribute how communities feel about themselves and their communities.
Enjoyment of the creative process by self and others.
Arts can promote a sense of community.
The persistense of beauty, imagination,amazement and spiritual feeling in a too-often dull and over-organised world.
Artistic skills, technical as well as conceptual.
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.
Largesse for the unemployable.
Employment for the unconscionable.
A passionate mouthpiece for the incomprehensible.
What a poorer place Britain would be without the Arts and, more importantly, the Arts Council.
As a Fine Art student, I've been investigating the relevance of art in today's society and how it affects our culture. Personally I feel that without the arts a huge percentage of what defines Britain would disappear. It's especially important to me because I have chosen to revolve my life around the arts and invest my time and money into making art relevant. I would hope that it continues to be a valued and cherished part of our lives, in all its forms.
Art is a rich uplifting experience for everyone involved . An ancient Sanskrit verse says about dance - wherever it is performed it is praised as auspicious beacause it creates beauty ! I would like to extend it to everything that is artistic .
Shantha Rao - Indian dancer storyteller
I believe that the Arts are invaluble to every member of the human race.
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!]
I believe that art can serve as a powerful force for brining people together, uniting them, and the value of this increases in places where communities are on the decline or have been outstripped by individualism. You only have to look at how the transforming power of art has revolutionised a place like Gateshead. We all have our own personal response to art, but this use of art to genuinely improve the lives of a large group of people for the better is simply wonderful.
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.
Diversity & inclusivity. Art should be at all levels - community & professional. Art allows people an expression outside of their daily existence - a chance to fly.
At the risk of saying too much and missing bits out of this huge and fascinating debate, simply...for me the Arts;
-lift the spirits
-change opinions
-make you think
-help you feel
-bring us together
-define our differences
-keep us open,
and, seem to suggest our fundamental genetic difference from other animals...(apologies to fruit fly)
So, we are all agreed on the importance of the Arts in our lives but it has to be funded and that funding is subject to government policy. Sir Peter Maxwell Davies recently spoke up for us in a stinging criticism of government's lack of interest in promoting classical music. Next time a prospective candidate knocks on your door, ask him/her what he intends to do about 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.
So, we are all agreed on the importance of the Arts in our lives but it has to be funded and that funding is subject to government policy. Sir Peter Maxwell Davies recently spoke up for us in a stinging criticism of government's lack of interest in promoting classical music. Next time a prospective candidate knocks on your door, ask him/her what he intends to do about 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.
The debate might widen,should the questions be inclusive of a wider audience, rather than a focus group.
Make the art affordable. A lot of families now find the tickets prohitively expansive.
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.
Humankind could not possibly do without the arts. Broad as they are, we all need at least some of them. Don't we all paint, draw, sing, dance, or play music (however well or badly) because we can't help it?
Craft: Ideas are easy. It’s when they are developed in and through a particular medium that the difficulties arise and it’s only in negotiating these difficulties that anything worthwhile or even surprising emerges. Without craft, Plato’s argument for excluding poets from his Republic would have to stand. Craft skills can be instinctive and a fundamental level can’t be taught. They aren’t the exclusive province of arts professionals and they certainly aren’t a prerequisite for arts funding or commercial support. They represent one of the key bases, however, upon which artists, amateur, professional, individual or collective, can legitimately ask for public attention.
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.
I would like to see more adventurous public art in unexpected spaces in our towns and cities. Amazing things that are contemporary and witty, that stay for years or have a shorter life span. In many cases making this happen takes real courage and vision by people who must answer to many masters. Therefore I believe it is paramount to keep demonstrating in various ways that public art plays an intrinsic and vital part in all of our lives, whether all us are aware of it or not.
For their ability to bring together people regardless of age, income, socical class or in some cases ablitiy and their ability, for their power to change perceptions both of self and the world we live in
I put down a good book, stop listening to a piece of music, withdraw from the act of imaginatively reaching towards the experience of another person through their careful art, whatever it may be, and in that moment the world is suddenly more present, more strange, more a source of wonder and respect than it had been when I started. I need to do it regularly. We all need to do it regularly.
availability, accessibility, connectivity, creativity, generosity, universality, unpredictability
i am concerned with the arts as a specific field of cultural practices the purpose of which should not only be to recruit consumers and producers of cultural products and services, though this is becoming ever more the case, but to make and and secure spaces where ways of living, thinking and acting can be called into qestion and reflected upon. as such art as a cultural practice is intrinsically connected with society, and makes the important and fragile connection between public benefit and critical potential. i do not see much of this kind of potential emerging through public-private partnerships or private funding. i see more of it emerging from community- and public oriented public funding, although there artists often end up doing cosmetic work to camouflage what politics has failed to do in a community. which is hardly of much use in the long run.
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?
I value everything about the arts. They are part of the fabric of my life, without music, dance, drama, visual arts, sculpture, performance arts etc. the world would be a very barren, dull place. The arts provide me with my work and enrich my personal life. They connect me with people I might not otherwise ever come into contact with. I have grown up surrounded by arts practitioners and cannot imagine any other existence. Music excites the young and gives pleasure to older people so uniting them in their enjoyment. The arts are inspiring, stimulating, sometimes incomprehensible, but never boring.
I wouldn't want to be without any of the art forms available today.
Art has given me a voice that I never had before.
It has worken me up.
Like privious people have said,
I too hold it so very close and so
very high.
I am involved in many branches of the arts but I am most concerned with the Folk Arts. The present licensing policy is doing untold and largely unseen and unquantifiable damage to the grass roots Folk Arts. Most performers of music, song and poetry start off in pubs and a multitude of other venues that now need a licence for live performance and yet do not need a licence for video, televised sport or 'canned' music.
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?
The arts are the heritage and culture of all of us, the variety of arts that we are now priviledged to see and participate in show where tolerance of each other can be found
by organising events and activities to elaborate on art, literature and heritage through performing arts with equal access reflecting the British composite culture, will certainly play a positive role to promote harmony and co-existance. Through performing arts, people can be introduced to alternative cultures for enhancing mutual undrestanding. As they say 'Knowledge without practice is incomplete', creative skill workshops like poetry and music can uplift the taste of youngsters and for this, they need to be ispired and educated. 'Ambition without knowledge is like a boat on dry land'.
I'm lucky to have grown-up in London with very easy access to the arts and have found ways to visit them cheaply. I've now worked in them for 10 years and they're fundemental to me. But I think they should be for everyone.
I talked to a writer recently who has done a writing workshop in Bosnia at the height of the war. They has very little food and no running water etc. When she initally arrived a woman was angry and said 'what do we need a workshop for?' Afterwards she said 'before you came we felt like animals at the vet, fed and medicated by charities. You've reminded us why we want to be alive.'
I want everyone to have access, because I think it's the fabric of life and makes people happy, but for everyone not just the priviledged few.
I value the way the arts has the potential to shine light on life in a way that highlights things we would'nt normally see. I value consious artistic expression more and more in this increasingly 'fly on the wall'/ 'reality T.V' age! I long for and enjoy work that is passionate and that has integrity. Art can be an absolute life saver in so many different ways. It creates a shared experience and makes mankind feel connected to, question and understand what it is to be alive. Creative expression is crucial. I value it enough to want to dedicate everything to it.
The arts have been extremely important to me and my life..in study, enjoyment, entertainment, debate, conversation, understanding, communication, skills development, creativity, inspiration, relaxation, travel and employment. I cannot imagine life without art.
Human beings are made creative - from the earliest of ages we mimic, copy and learn through imaginative play. Even in cultures where art is suppressed, the artists thrive and capture moments, truths, experiences, joys and horrors that transmit our humanity.
They will always be political because they challenge the heart of the human being, highlight the inequalities of our world and bring hope to the spirit.
Imagine life without expression - it just wouldn't be worth the journey.
Long live the arts and thank God fro our funidng sytem to allow the new, the invigorating and the risks.
The UK has got and has had for a very long time some of the best Art Schools in the world and some of the best Art education overall.
The arts council is needed to help bring it all into fruition.British art feeds into tuorism, and helps make money that way. And remember, every artist in work is one off the dole and so saving the state money.
I love fine art and living in London with it's countless galleries has enabled me to improve my own artistic techniques.I am sad to hear that the funding for the arts sector will be reduced, as I believe that the pool of raw diversed talented artists is growing and funding is vitally important to help these individuals to explore and enhance their talents in order for them to become skilled professionals and communicators through their artistic gifts.
I work with a theatre company from Birmingham. They and I have been all over the world, with countless other British performers and artists. From the responses we've had abroad, first hand, it has a fantastic impact on the perception of this country and its people overseas. I value the international cultural exchange of the arts, its a universal language.
But newer performers are never going
to have chance to have their say without some kind of guaranteed, ringfenced support free from political tampering.
OK let's start with controversy, there is no such thing as 'The Arts' just living and breathing. Imagination, creativity and sharing are integral parts of the human condition. It is only in our industrialised society that we have lost sight of this, and along with many other aspects of living, tried to consign the responsibility to so-called professional practitioners.
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.
I value the way that the arts connect the heritage and tradition of the past with contemporary creativity. I would be very disappointed if arts funding were to ignore groups keeping alive traditional heritage (of whatever culture), e.g., classical music, traditional folk arts and dance, etc., and only to fund more forward-looking productions (of course, the reverse direction would be equally regrettable).
the arts are a true representation of the world as we know it, although this representation could be direct or indirect. afrom the arts, one gets insight into aspects of normal life that can not ordinarily be seen. One can stare at a painting for a long while and his train of thoughts could be channeled during this time, to things he would not ordinarily have conceived. Everyone should attempt to get closer to the arts as it does not only provide psychological fulfillment but also spiritual upliftment. Artists of any kind, to me, are the true heroes of society.
The arts are a key part of all our lives whether we are conscious of this or not. They are relevant to all young people. The arts, crafts and world of design help us communicate, understand, appreciate and make sense of our world. Through creative engagement with the arts young people will develop their critical skills as well as their cultural understanding. Increasing their appreciation and tolerance of the rich cultural experiences that surround them.
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.
Seeing a work of art can bring an extra dimension to life, take you out of the everyday, spur you into reflection and raise your spirits.
I must be one of many in this country called: - SKILLED ARTIST, who can produce a unique form of visual art, via a painting. Many of us Artist are called Crafts People, which we are. Many of us cannot become self employed due to not: - being Sales People:- not able to
depend on money from selling enough of our produce to live on : - also with many barriers of self employment, via: - accountancy, taxes etc.
Up till recently I have attended many craft fairs, table tops & markets, which will permit craft people: - Just any where I can exhibit my Artwork and hope I can sell, to cover the cost.
We the Skilled Artist - Crafts People, can spend many many hours, to produce our own typ of artwork. We spend hours loading and unloading our vehicles. We drive many drive many miles, and then spend hours setting up our display for the public to see. We will then hope our artwork will sell and cover our costs, but many times this does not happen.
But with the many T V programs that
are about interior decorating etc, and how cheap it can be done, this is hammering into the the buying public: - minimalism and cheap made rubish, then the buying public will not buy proper British hand made craft products. We the Skilled Artist - Crafts People, do not get paid anything for exibiting our unique skill our Artist abilities and the Antiques of the future.
Yet if we could Sing, Act, Dance or make films, there would be a good chance we would be paid to perform: - exhibit.
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.
...I thought art was about self expression and subjective to the individual? From my mere 30 years on this planet I've found traditional artists to be self proclaimed 'high brow' and elitist talking rubbish..it's a shame thess shallow individuals don't see what I see? An 'evolved' subjective perception...Shame on you those who disagree!! You're part of the problem, not the solution!! Art is everywhere... Art is life, life is art! In the words of Johnny Nash the artist..'I'm gonna break, I'm gonna break my rusty cage....D.schott@hotmail.co.uk
I value the arts because they comment on what is going on in the world right here right now. They respond to and illuminate huge issues that are of interest to all of us: family, memory, prejudice, race, love, hatred, sex, war..they offer us another view. They ARE relevant. They DO enrich our lives.
Studying art transformed my life by opening my mind I developed hope a new attitude and belief in myself. I was offered an alternative path to follow which so far has not been lucrative monetarily but it has kept me alive metaphorically spiritually as well as literallly.
What do i value about the arts? I value what they add to my life. The images, words, sounds, experiences, ideas, emotions and physical sensations i get because of the arts that i would not get if they were not there. My life would be less without Shakespeare, Puccini and opera in general, U2, Almodovar, John Irving,movies too many to mention and Botticelli.
I work in the arts - specifically in an arts development agency. I know that for some communities the arts can be the glue that holds them together.
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
In a big picture, the arts say more about our world than a history book. In a smaller way they bring diverse populations together and bridge communication gaps. Sometimes I want to cry because the audience is so NOT while and middle class at the Rep, even though I am!
Its an opportunity to feel greater than your self...
I have found the foregoing comments interesting but feel they all fall short of SHOUTING OUT LOUD
"What is THE VALUE OF ART" ?
ART is exploring the spiritual part of humanity. That's what sets humankind apart from animalkind. Without Art & Culture there can be NO civilisation.
ART is expressing our own identity and inner feelings via artistic medium. If we have no sense of self we cannot express art nor appreciate it in others.
There cannot be any self-discovery without art.
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
The Arts.
The people in suits keep chopping away, but the artists always spring back.
Art is what gets people up in the morning, and gets them to work, not dreary politicians with their spread sheets and research reports.
Britain needs cheering up, Britain needs to be proud, Britain needs to be great again.
All the things that a government say they want to give us could come so easily from the arts.
As a country with a huge tourism industry, we need to grasp this and get everyone involved in the happy process of the arts. Make Britain smile again. We're not really all doomed - we just haven't got enough arts in our everyday lives.
The arts are part of our collective heritage. Every single person should have access. The arts encourage people to think and to challenge. They are not about forcing your opinion on others, but they are about stimulating ideas and debate. Whether or not you prefer something escapist or political, whether you prefer theatre to modern art, it's your right to choose.
I value the arts because they can provide connections between communities and individuals. Participating in the arts can make you think, feel and see things in a different way. The arts can challenge,comfort,confirm, raise spirits and provide space to think.Everyone should have the opportunity to be creative, unfortunately not enough people get the opportunity. The Arts Council should ensure that all children - wherever they live - have the opportunity to participate in the arts. I value innovation and don't think the Arts Council takes enough risks to support new and emerging art forms. There is still too much of a top down approach and attitude that art has to be officially approved before it's any good but some of the best (and worst) art is created by people outside of the funded mainstream. Artists need more space to create the work they want and not try to fit government agendas, let the art speak for itself.
Art keeps me awake, challenges me, makes me look at things differently. Without art I would stay in my rut. I am not creative or inventive but I admire those who are - they who have the courage to put themselves out there.
Art is everywhere, all is art, and art is in us all. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and every beholder appreciates some kind of art form. It must be supported and encouraged in all its various forms. Well done to the Arts Council England (from a resident Scot abroad).
They are a way for many people to access learning and feeling, gain a sense of identity and understand their own emotions and other peoples'.
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.
arts are all round us, everywhere we go. everything.
If we're sat at home reading or listening to the radio, to going out and seeing books and posters. Arts is a major thing in life.
To everyone. Without arts we would definatly not be an advanced country.
The Arts feed our senses: visual, aural, tactile, taste and olfactory.
The Arts embrace literature, music,dance, the visual arts, drama, cinema and the culinary arts.
The Arts, therefore, are central to our lives.
The Arts are of great importance to me. I love music, playing the piano and saxophone; drama, dance, cinema, art galleries, museums and literature.
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.
Art should be fun. Art should make you think. Art should make us talk and art should make us listen.Art some times should make you cry. Art should be accessible to everyone. Too much art is expensive - theatre prices, gallery charges, even donation requests that may put people visting a venue. If its free it should be clearly free.
being part of a live audience for an arts event is an entirely different experience from watching TV or listening to music at home. People in groups are moved whether by live actors or musicians or by watching a film collectively. This experience needs to made available to all, with public subsidy where needed.
Technology is transforming the way people engage with the Arts as far as music goes, but live performance remains the key to improving the quality of life for people. It is by far the most powerful way of reaching people and engages parts of the brain that otherwise remain unstimulated. ACE have failed to grasp the nettle of reforming the antiquated network of large performance venues that often tend to only serve the cities and immediate environs. There needs to be a shift towards making performance more accessible to everyone, not just those within striking distance of city venues.
We need to take more performances to the people by making good use of community venues (both urban and rural) and village halls. Apart from an environmental benefit in reducing the need for people to travel, this enable companies to reach a much wider audience.
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.
I value the insights I get from the Arts. I value the fun. I value the escape. I value our many free galleries and museums, public sculptures and free events. I love that the Baltic in Newcastle is free AND full of exhibits I don't understand.
To those who ask "What is the value of art to me?" I say imagine a world where all art is banished: a life without literature, paintings, installations, photographs or any form of visual expression. No theatre, film, tv drama. No music! Imagine your house and your environment devoid of all these things. How would your life be?
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?
Live & Local is a rural touring scheme that promotes top class professional arts performances in Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire. Each member of our small team has decided to write about why they value the arts:
'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.'
The role of publicly funded art is to support the development of new ideas and debate about the nature of creativity. This open ended creativity will be lost if funding is left to private sponsorship.
Often in life we fail to face up to something which has happened to us or to talk about things important and affecting our lives. Everyday we see in the media things happening around the world, the arts make us think, talk, laugh and cry and these issues come out. The arts can be a way of cultures coming together, being creative and making something magical.
Art can't change the world but it can help the world to imagine change.
powerful art can allow us to briefly see through someone elses eyes; force us to have and express opinions; build bridges; be aware and mindful of the changing world around us... the list is endless...
Why is this taking place on the ACE website? Come across much passionate dissent around here? Hardly a debate is it!
I value local access to art. To exhibitions that do not require a two day trip (ie London) and to local activities that provide access to a wide range of creative people. Access to 'art' improves/ jolts into action my creativity - which is then applied in so many different spheres of life - work, friends, children, travel and so on.
I agree with MF of 13th Feb. Without creativity we are not living life on the edge, we are not forging our own realities, we are not pursuing an undiscovered secret. Without recognition of art we will lose this sense of creativity.
To me Arts is about life and living. As an African woman historian and artist, I was brought up with creativity and into creativity. It was when I came to England 27 years ago that I had a shock of my life that art was not relevant to life and living but it was having some untouchable paints on walls meant by some handfull society elites.
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.
The arts are incredibly important to us for so many reasons. Firstly good art works as a catalyst to inform us about who we are and how we relate to others. It acts as a stimulant to develop ideas, to challenge us, to inform us, to bring people together, to introduce new perspectives.
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!
I value theatre as a social art form. Not theatre as a building or a script but as a relationship between humans that engenders empathy, respect and attendance. This might be displayed as much in work made by a class of 5 year olds as in a performance at the Royal Court. The rich engagement with, and interaction of, the audience can be as uplifting as the performance.
Approximately 2%.
Happy for others to value the other 98%.
The Arts bring pleasure to a wide range of people in this country. There are probably few people who don't attend cinema or listen to music at some time in their lives. They do so for many reasons.
I work in the arts, encouraging people to sing. In my spare time I also sing... it's part of my life. Taking part is key to my enjoyment of singing, but I also enjoy the mental and emotional stimulation of attending arts events - cinema, music, art galleries, theatre and dance - even though I don't go as often as I would like.
The arts brighten our lives all over the world, and can break down barriers at the same time.
Without the arts the world would be a really dull place and life would be only about money and the mundane. I believe arts can be incorporated into every spere of life in some way or another, because it is about unlocking creativity which can then be applied to anything,including areas which these days are usually considered seperately e.g. science and politics. In the old days it seems that the arts were far more connected with everyday life, as was spirituality. Now that I live in the East Riding of Yorkshire instead or London, I miss the facilities I used to have and understand the value and importance of them even more than I used to. The Arts give everyone vision and unlock creativity and we could do with a lot more of both in this area.
I grew up with no true knowledge of the significance of arts as an African woman. I was often told do not put that on, do not go to that place, or you can not have your hair in that manner because it was all regarded as barbaric� what a shame!!!! I was been robbed of my true identity and cultural heritage.
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
The way it can make me feel, see, think, relax, smile, argue, contemplate, happy, sad, passionate - for all these reasons and more I value the arts. X
It's obvious that our expectations of the visual arts are inexorably limited by the judgement of those people who control what we are allowed to see in our public spaces. Unfortunately for me I only see evidence of rather feeble minded judgement - maybe a manisfestation of the lowest common denominator of an increasinly dumbed-down education system!