I have just been listening to today's broadcast of 'You and Yours' on BBC R4 and it is a wonder that I did not have an accident, so preoccupied was I with shouting - possibly screaming - at the radio in the car. They were taking listener views on the subject 'What have the arts ever done for me?'. Now, I realise from the start that these kind of phone in/Tweet in/text in affairs are always going to produce an overly-polarised division of opinions. Let's face it, they are not going to feature contributions from anyone who wants to put a balanced or reasoned view across. Instead, we get 'tit-for-tat' contributions, first from someone who says the arts are completely irrelevant and then from someone who owes their livelihood, marriage or sanity to the arts. Repeat over and over. Of course, it is meant to be provocative (or at least as provocative as Y&Y can be), but it still riles me every time...
In this particular debate, however, those giving a negative view of the contribution of the arts to society just came across as exceptionally narrow-minded and dull (as in beige) people. The first negative contributor seemed to be convinced that the only people who attend theatre or the opera (he reserved special bile for opera-goers) are the middle or upper classes. In part this may be true: I would guess that the theatre and opera are frequented by those classes to a greater degree than the working classes. In his world, this meant all public subsidy for those art forms should be stopped at once. However, I saw this as a reason why we need to keep public subsidy: God knows a night at the opera or theatre is expensive enough but without any subsidy, it would be prohibitive for all but the rich. If all tickets reflected full cost/no subsidy, the costs involved would prohibit a whole raft of people from ever experiencing these branches of the arts. Just what we want - extending the culture of privilege and exclusivity as opposed to encouraging access and inclusivity! In fact, as the caller went on, it became clear that he could find no place for the arts in the lives of 'ordinary' folk. I found that depressing. Someone who has such a large chip on their shoulder or whose heart is so dead to emotional contact that they are happy to leave theatre and opera to his perceived 'betters', I found to be an awful thought. "Art? It's alright for the likes of them toffs but give me a draughty church hall and a game of bingo anytime. I know my place!" he seemed to be saying.
The next caller was an art therapist who spoke of the use of art in the treatment of physical and mental illnesses. This used to be something that many hospitals provided: it was both popular and found to have positive benefits in terms of aiding recovery and/or improving outcomes. Unfortunately, when money gets tight, this kind of holistic approach to treatment bites the dust and any small move away from the traditional biomedical model of health is quickly ditched in favour of allopathic medicine. The art therapist explained that since health and local authority monies had dried up, she could now only provide her therapy on a private basis. It was now the turn for an 'anti-arts' person to speak so the next caller suggested that, because of the needs of austerity, all arts subsidies should be removed (due to "the mess made by the last Labour government" quoth he) and should instead be spent on something worthwhile "like the NHS". At that point I was definitely losing it as I was shouting at the radio "Have you not been listening to anything the previous caller said? Health is a wider issue than merely giving some drugs to someone or bandaging a limb, you bloody idiot!".
Art/the arts, often seem to be a difficult concept for some. It's almost as if we are scared to explore, to open up, to go out there and learn something about the world or about ourselves. Art is not about 'someone else' - it's about you and me, it's about shared experience, shared emotions; it's about the community in which we live. Yes, it may be a little difficult to get engaged with to begin with and, yes, it may be, unfortunately, overly associated with 'posh people'. But it doesn't have to be that way at all, not by a long chalk. The arts are for all. Treat yourself soon.
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