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commentary So, Why Are the Arts Important? by Brenda Berck During the various talks I give around the community--no matter what the topic of the talk--someone always asks some version of the question. "Why are the arts important'.'" Depending on the audience and the theme of the gathering, my answer vanes somewhat, but it always includes some mention of how the arts teach us to see things in new ways, and of how the aits mirror our expenence. Some-times I talk aboul the ways in which the arts are good for business; at other times, about (he ways the arts contribute to life-long learning and to lifelong enjoyment. I had offered to write an article for M m Access on the importance of the arts, but found thai my thoughts kept turning to the Constitutional discussions which were happening at the same time. So. to begin. I want to address the question: What do the arts have lo do with the Constitution? The simple answer is. a lot! The arts help us understand what it means to be a British Columbian, as opposed, say. to being an Alhertan. Sometimes we find words for naming these qualities of identity (mountains, ocean. Westerners) but sometimes, ordinary words aren't enough and we turn to poetry or drama, paint pictures or choreograph dances that are informed by the British Columbian or Western (as in. Canadian West) experience. Others refer to the ways Canadians are affected by their geography, yet there arc of course other elements of out identity--age. gender, class or ethnicity--that are more difficult to articulate, cxpecially for those of us who are not creative writers. So again, we turn to music, dance, theatre, the visual arts, either as a substitute for words or as a complement to those verbal expressions. said, at the outset, that the arts help us to see things in new ways. Other personal experiences include: Theatre -- Earlier this year. 1 saw the Robert Lepage/Marianne Ackerman production of Alanienouidet (the Huron name given to the British actor. Edmund Kean) at the National Arts Centre. It gave me a stunning and visceral experience of one point of Canadian history. The use of Mohawk as well as French and English provoked some new insights into the role of language in communication. The experience left me tremendously excited, so that when, a few months later. I had an opportunity to see Marianne Ackerman's f Affaire Tartuffe. or The Garrison Officers Rehearse Moliere in Montreal. I seized it with relish. There I discovered Theatre 1744. whose mandate is "to create theatre which speaks to a contem-porary Quebec audience through projects involving anglophone and francophone artists." A s with the Ottawa production, the play was based on events in Canadian history and was delivered in French and English, with the third language in this instance being Gaelic. ers and celebrate life and news as an artform." given John Naisbett's {Megatrends) identification of the ways in which newspapers' functions are changing. Other ways in which the arts have an impact on business include the extra cost-effectiveness of a mixed use facility that includes an arts facility. Even these few illustrations identify ways in which the arts have significance in our lives. A n d I haven't even touched on the excitement, passion and increased selfesteem that comes with engaging directly in making art. music, dance, theatre! That will have to wait for another article. Brenda Berck is the Cultural Development Officer for the North Shore Arts Commission. She has been an avid arts spectator all her life, especially in the areas of visual arts, music and theatre. Her life as a dancer began with ballet lessons when she turned 40 {her gift to herself). Regional Cultural Facilities Study by Brenda Berck In the last issue of Arts Access, 1 wrote about my consulting experience with cultural facilities planning as a way of describing the kinds of questions and issues that I expected would be addressed in the Regional Cultural Facilities Study. This study is currently being carried out for the Nonh Shore Arts Commission by Cornerstone Planning Group. A n d since . I ha> monthly newsletters and in the quarterly bulletins of the two North Shore municipalities. M y goal in writing these articles is both to inform the community of some of the details of the work being done and to describe this work in such a way that other organizations migln consider undertaking similar activities w here appropriate. For example. I wrote that organizations involved in such planning should have a mission statement, for this acts as a point of reference for discussions about the kinds of activities that organization will and will not undertake, and therefore, the kinds and amounts of space required. Such statements also clarify what dis-tinguishes similar organizations from one another. Both Presentation House and the North Shore Arts Commission have recently been discussing their orga-nizational missions, even though only Presentation House is considering its space needs. Another study activity was a work session that involved a wide range of p e o p l e elected officials, representatives of various cultural groups, facilities and related agencies, and planners--in identifying pnorities and possible directions. At such meetings, people who normally don't work together find themselves making unexpected partnerships. The Arts Commission publication Art Matters ceased publication last fall when changes to Arts Access allowed for the possibility of an occasional column for the Arts Commission. However, later this summer, when there is a great deal more to report on the Facilities Study, the Arts Art Matters devoted entirely 10 the Study and the issues it raises and identifies. In a different way, the Vancouver Playhouse's production of Athol Fugard's My Children.' My Africa! built on my personal experience as a student and my professional experience as a schoolteacher, to give me an understanding of a quite different educational circumstance. The production featured some fine performances which, among other things, reminded me of how much more powernalion, rather than on stage. And. Haunted House Hamlet at Presentation House certainly changes one's school-based notion of what Shakespeare might have lo do with our 20th-century lives! Dance -- The recent Know ledge Network series, Point of Departure, had two particularly memorable dances. One piece. The Fall, was choreographed for a dancer who had been left paraplegic alter ¿ 1 1 1 onstage accident. The program gave a whole new level of meaning to the phrase 'movement through dance.' Another, by a Belgian choreographer, had the dancers in bulked-up costumes so that they all appeared to have fat bodies. They were able to move gracefully nonetheless. Balanchine was probably turning in his grave, but I loved it! And I'm sure that every viewer was startled into recognizing the assumptions we all make about dancers' perfect bodies. These are all vivid illustrations of the ways in which art can move one to see things difIcrenlK. Oilier ettecN Lire more subtle, and "Balanchine was probably turning in his grave, but I loved it!" The arts also help us to understand what we, as British Columbians, have in common with other Canadians. Some of the qualities we share with Albertans. for instance, are the mountains and the fact of being Westerners; with other Canadians, it might simply be being non-Americans. With others in the world, it might be less geographical and based more on human, social, economic, gender or age issues. Sometimes the qualities we share are concrete and nameable: other times they are ineffable, and best expressed through metaphor anil nonverbal forms. There are therefore two main ways in which the arts inform the Constitutional discussions. First, the arts help us as British Columbians to identify who we are and what we mean when we use that label. "I he) also help those at the Consti-tuuonal negotiating table understand what that phrase means. And. second, when arts groups and indiv idual artists tour the country, they can help other Canadians understand and experience how they differ from, and are similar to, British Columbians. A s we come to better understand each other's artistic expressions, we have a greater sense of what it means to be Canadian. These are some of the reasons 1 believe thai culture should remain a federal responsibility. The! illustrations of w hat I i The significance ol Ihe arts to bi also quite subtle at times. Aside signili, ssue of how the ; Finns that brainstorm about who the) are and what they might do have often found it enormously helpful to consult an artist as part of their deliberations, for example. The artist's different way of approaching the particular issue generates new ideas thai otherwise might nol have come forward. A recent issue of Business in Vancouver suggested that newspapers need to "hire the bright, creative ir-