Painting Canvas of the Future
By Cate Blanchett
April 15, 2008 12:00am
ANY review of a period or an era will be framed in cultural outcomes. Think back to the '50s and inevitably your mind goes to Elvis Presley, your grandmother's furniture and the rise of television. Back a little further to the Renaissance and it's Leonardo, Michaelangelo and the other artists characteristic of that time.
The lasting value and evidence of a civilisation are artistic products and ingenuity. In fact, history makes little time for the other human endeavours. That is not because they are unimportant or irrelevant it is because the arts and creativity - the makings of culture - are in fact the central endeavour of our species.
Scientific enquiry flows out of and is inspired by them, wars are fought in their defence, cities, trade and complex economies are enabled and facilitated by them.
The 2020 summit is an opportunity to dream of a co-ordination between the many important strands of our densely packed society. I believe cultural vitality and real engagement are central to many of them.
For example, education - how do we teach our children to think creatively and innovatively? Economics, how do we create an innovative and competitive economy with cities that can attract and stimulate the world? Governance, how can we maintain a population that is engaged, educated and able to formulate its own opinions?
Generally, how can we encourage lateral, creative and fresh thinking? On the day, the creative stream will grapple with issues like evolutions in practice, our role in Asia, the relationship between access to the arts and pursuit of excellence, examination of youth arts, broadcasting and media reform and the ever-present issue of Australian content.
As this is a collaborative process, the participants' ideas will form the specific agenda which is still taking shape. This summit demands we imagine and then create the future. Creativity and the arts are as elemental to that future as they are to the past. They are a link between us all and an expression of our differences.
My driving question will always be how do we consolidate and deepen all Australians' cultural engagement so that regardless and in fact because of personal preferences we are contributing socially and rewardingly to a broad and sustainable future?
See article at: http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23538544-5016510,00.html
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