Throughout my discussions on the SIG's via facebook I have found myself exploring different material and I came across this article form the stage and this quote below really struck a chord with me.
“It’s true, art is useless,” said Eyre. “It doesn’t clothe the poor or feed the hungry. It’s as useless as, well…life, but it’s precisely our awareness of the ‘uselessness’ of life that make us want to struggle to give it purpose, and to give that purpose meaning through art.”
He continued: “There is no society that doesn’t engage in the apparently useless activity of making art. It’s a universal instinct: it must therefore be contributing something that’s indispensable to human life.”
The whole article can be found below its definitely an interesting perception on the performance industry one that seems to have had a strong impact on me.
When asked to explain what I do it's not always simple to sum it up in a few words and can be dismissed as insignificant by others. This article really captures the essence of why the performance industry is so important to me and why my ideas for lines of enquiry are looking at the link between the arts and their necessity and benefit to academia.
I would welcome any thoughts on this article either on my blog or via facebook SIG's.
Richard Eyre: http://blogs.thestage.co.uk/education/2010/11/richard-eyre-president-of-rose-bruford-o/
Hi Rebecca - thanks for bringing these ideas to our attention. There is a resonance in this with our discussions at yesterday's campus session on professional ethics. In looking at this topic we decided that there is a distinction between an organisation's (or profession's) ethos and its mission and that is that there is some sort of moral purpose tied up with professional practice in ethos. Eyre's comments can be considered in this context -
ReplyDeleteThe links of the arts - their necessity and benefit to academia - - last 60 years maybe? It is such a rich topic area that you may have to time fence even you initial scoping - some may be very sure of that link but in today's climate it may not be as stable as some say. I just received an emails from the College Arts Association in the US saying that the Government was just about to cut finding for the National Endowment for the Arts - wow - that wold be a blow... and academia in this country has been a part of the public purse. Was your interest more general or topical?
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