adminpotential – to respond to technology, to widen our international perspective, to instill resilience and build sustainability in the collective arts. We need to keep our arts alive, for the long-term good of the arts themselves, for their place in society, and simply for the fact they make this nation rich in intellectual, spiritual and economic terms.
The arts are part of our collective soul and common wealth. We all need to work together in this period of financial austerity to try and deliver more from the private sector and other fiscal elements by improving fund-raising skills and the overall culture of giving to the arts.
But this is not a “quick job” or a “quick fix” solution. The bottom line is that the Arts Council and their funding partners will have to make tough decisions, exercise judgment, and try to do what is best for all arts and culture.
President John F. Kennedy quoting Robert Frost said; ” . . . The nation that disdains the arts . . . has nothing.”
In 2012 we have the conditions for excellence in the arts in this country that are working. However, sustaining the financial success in the arts, in general, is going to be very challenging for them.
There is great need for greater participation and collaboration from all concerned. Not with a view to the short term, but the long, thus looking to support artistic aspiration across a period of time that bridges current austerity into better economic times.
If the Arts Council hopes to lead by example it should do more towards this endeavour. For us to do our job well requires a clear sense of the needs of the artistes and the audiences they serve.
It is a sobering responsibility, one not be taken lightly. Everyone in the Arts Council should share this ambition. There is need for those who work in the arts to continue to help with the challenging work that will engage audiences everywhere.
The Ministry of Education, Sport Arts and Culture for one, should come up with a proper curriculum which is feasible and up-to-date.
Schools, colleges and tertiary educational institutions should do their part by providing and promoting more and better facilities in the arts. At the same time galleries should do more to attract new audiences to experience the best of contemporary visual arts.
At a time when the arts are at their best, we need to hang onto the fact that we really have found a way of supporting the arts in this country that works.
That will entail combining money from local and national government, from the National Lottery, and from private and corporate giving, delivered at arm’s length from political expediency.
I hope the ambition set out here matches that of the arts leaders, artistes and audiences we have been talking to.
Art has resulted in particular success in this country. It is a precious national treasure, which requires our determined collective responsibility to foster and keep alive. That is what “Achieving great art for everyone is all about”. That is why it matters.
l Dr Tony Monda holds a PhD in Post-Modern Art Theory and a Doctorate in Business Administration in Post-Colonial Art and Heritage Studies. He is also a practising artist, designer, art critic and corporate image consultant.
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