‘WE ARE disposed to believe that the work of artists helps to create our future. . . that the effort of creative individuals can promote a new order of understanding in the common mind.” Those whose task is to rebuild the image of this country abroad might be wise to take heed of these words of Seamus Heaney.
While the economic downturn has been a serious setback to our material prosperity, our cultural wealth stands undiminished. The role of the arts in the restoration of this country’s international reputation cannot be overstated and should not be ignored; the extent to which they can contribute to a badly-needed renewal of our sense of self adds further to any argument in favour of ensuring that the infrastructure and investment that supports creative endeavour continues at least to be maintained at current levels, inadequate as they are.
Before the advent of our now-faded economic success, Ireland’s identity was closely aligned to our achievements in literature, theatre, music, the cinema and other art-forms. Along with our heritage, these contemporary art-forms contributed in large part to the defining image of this country.
The arts are not some luxury that can be dispensed with, especially in a period that brings with it the loss of values and material conditions we took as a certainty: rather the opposite, the work of the imagination is fundamental to national recovery. The arts can be the catalyst for ideas, the perfect meeting place for tradition and innovation. The fight for cultural support therefore requires a far more coherent and united campaign from the entire arts sector than it often appears to have.
What has clearly been recognised by Government and the political establishment is the role the arts can play in the development of Ireland as a cultural destination. The value of the arts to the economy, and the high return from low investment, has been well audited in several recent reports and stands as one aspect of the economic argument. However, there is a strikingly true note in the recent assertion by the musician and film-maker Philip King in this newspaper that in the midst of what he calls our collective identity crisis we must now get back to the things that gave us self-belief and confidence in the first place before it all got caught up in the maelstrom of the economy. King’s belief that “we have imagination to burn and imagination is the key to future success” is one we should all share, for now is certainly the time for dreamers.