You know it’s going to fall on deaf ears. For as long as I can remember people have been pointing out the importance of art and culture and the need for proper investment; and for as long as I can remember the arguments have been ignored.
So well done Gary Lightbody for having another go. And well done too to BBC Northern Ireland (not a phrase you hear often these days) for giving him the platform. The frontman for Snow Patrol comes to this debate with less baggage than some – he’s from the popular end of the arts, not the ‘elitist’ one.
But, in truth, there is little difference between what are traditionally called the high arts and popular arts. Both are cut from the same cloth.
Music, whether ‘popular’ or ‘orchestral’, taps into the same part of our brains and excites the same emotions. And there is the same level of immersion whether one is sitting in the Lyric’s auditorium or at home playing the latest computer game.
Each of the arts relies on people at the top of their game technically, able to use their artform to tell meaningful stories, and who have the capacity to reach out and touch us – as individuals and collectively.
There is one other essential element for the arts to be effective: the presence of an audience (you and me), people with minds open enough to be challenged as well as entertained, and willing to generate the type of energy that makes performers thrive.
You may not have been conscious of it, but you will have experienced it yourself – at a gig, down the pub where a seisiún is in full flow, or in the concert hall.
Lightbody’s advocacy – he also helped launch the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s latest strategic plan – is welcome because it does not come from ‘the usual suspects’. Hopefully more people will sit up and listen.
The people who really need to listen more are sitting in the Northern Ireland Assembly, making day-to-day decisions about funding. For one reason or another, successive administrations, direct rule and devolved, have failed to invest. Yet this sector has proved it can be transformational; not only impacting us as individuals, but driving forward the knowledge economy and destination tourism.
The arts sector here has not just been hit by abysmally low levels of spending – it is significantly out of kilter with the Republic and with other parts of the UK. But it has also been undermined by the collapse of the arts in our underfunded education system, and by the disrespect shown to so-called ‘Mickey-Mouse degrees’ in the arts and humanities.
Behind it all, I suspect there is a bit of snobbery. For some reason our elected representatives seem to think the arts are elitist. They are nothing of the sort and, in any case, ‘nothing’s too good for the working class’.
The reality is that exposure to the arts in education, and in our everyday lives, improves our intellectual capabilities, helps us to reflect on who we are as human beings, builds communities of interest and allows us collectively to express our culture and heritage, and it can make a measurable difference to our health and well-being.
The corrosive effect of a thousand and one cuts is felt most directly by performers themselves who are, more often than not, expected to work for a pittance. Our orchestral players are among the most poorly paid in the UK; the same can be said for our actors and musicians. Many visual artists struggle to make ends meet. Yet these are people with valuable skills which have been achieved only after years – sometimes decades – of study.
A performer will often have spent more time learning their craft than a surgeon, yet the differential in terms of pay and respect is enormous.
A performer will often have spent more time learning their craft than a surgeon, yet the differential in terms of pay and respect is enormous
As a society we have produced writers and performers who are genuinely world class, but through a combination of indifference and neglect we are letting down the next generation: the scribblers who turn into Seamus Heaney, the pianists who become Barry Douglas, the flute band players who become James Galway, and the would-be guitarists who become Gary Lightbody.
But we also run the risk of undermining the very fabric of the society we want to become: innovative, inclusive, proud of who we are and celebratory of the cultures which make us truly unique.
