Integrating arts and culture into national economy

How will an artiste survive if he or she cannot find a way to be part of the national economic system through the particular chosen art or craft? This is a fundamental unanswered question that many artistes in Sri Lanka try to solve by juggling other ‘day jobs’ in order to survive as an artist. This includes writers, visual artistes, musicians and dancers. 

There are economies in the world that have arranged a system for the artiste to be recognised as such and proper support to be accorded and these economies are those where the education system or the social system is not pre occupied with the creation of doctors, lawyers and engineers alone. 

Interviews conducted with several artistes across the country point to a need to resurrect the purpose of the artiste to being one beyond tourism as it currently is associated in Sri Lanka. 

“Pity the child who tells their parent that they want to be an artist. All that is aesthetic is seen as a waste of time and even for a school concert it is very difficult for parents to make up their mind to send the children. I am a dancing teacher and for me, I am limited by the rural district I am in and although I do my best to send my students for national level competitions, I too struggle economically as giving private classes is the only way I can get by,” a dancing teacher in the outskirts of Kandy said in an interview. 

She pointed out that private dancing classes cannot be seen as the same as tuition. “It is a recreation. Children are happy, relaxed and energised after one hour dancing session. They learn to get on with other students and have the space to actually be happy, something that eludes most students caught in the rat race of examinations.”

Tying up arts almost in totality in tourism for its survival, role of the arts in strengthening mental health of children and adults has not been a subject given much thought in Sri Lanka. 10 September is the day of prevention of suicide and it is apt for us to examine social vices such as mental health disorders, suicide, violent crime and drug addiction and look at the massive role all forms of arts – creative writing, music, dance, visual arts and craft making can play in elevating the mental stress of a nation. 

For this, it has to be enmeshed into the education system from primary level and mainstreamed in a manner that aesthetic training within the school system maintains a fine balance where students are trained on financial models of using arts for both social benefit and long term sustainability.

In the main article today we looked at private-public partnerships for the promotion of eye care. In a similar manner – a model of the same sort could be structured for the use of arts in diverse sectors. We mentioned the use of art for mental health – as such all forms of art could be mainstreamed in the health sector overall – in a structured manner – as a means of assisting in the convalescing of patients. 

There could be for example special dance, music or visual art therapists and performers assigned to each hospital whose one and only payment accruing task would be to work with the patients aiding their recovery.

There was in Sri Lanka some time back an art activist named Presely who combined breath based meditation with visual art which needed only the drawing of lines as one pleases with each breath and then after a particular guided exercise to link up the lines. The images that surfaced were either left in black or white or coloured up. This was used by him for trauma healing in prisons and other related cases, assisted by some private sector patronage including diplomatic missions supporting arts for social wellbeing. 

The purpose of this article is part of a larger mechanism to assist the State structure and the private sector to have a better understanding of the role of the artist in society and to use arts for a larger goal than money making alone, but to ensure the economic stability of artists and above all to reclaim art in all its forms as core components of a world which would otherwise die.  (SV)