The past term has been an utter joy for the Arts at Wellington with barely a day going by without some triumph in the world of music, dance or drama. The dark days of mid-January were illuminated by the joyful light of House Singing, and the annual musical, always strategically placed in the week before half-term, was another breath-taking tour de force. Since the mid-term break, we have enjoyed a Curriculum Dance Show, a Concerto Concert, Welly Rocks, the Montgomery Instrumental Competition, Choral Evensong, a Crowthorne Choral Society performance (including many Welly parents), an IB Visual Arts Exhibition, a Jazz and Concert Band Concert raising funds for the Crowthorne Minibus (a cause which the College has supported since 1997) and last week’s intense, challenging and mesmerising production of George Orwell’s 1984, the themes of which resound more strongly in 2023 than ever before.
Very sadly, this same period has seen some of the most egregious and damaging cuts to the public funding of the Arts ever executed in the UK. Controversy and press coverage concerning the decisions taken by the Arts Council England (ACE) have primarily focussed on some of the big names in London and the Southeast such as English National Opera and the Donmar Theatre. Last week, however, it was announced that the curtain at the Oldham Coliseum Theatre, which has served its community in the north-west of England for over 100 years and which has relied in recent years on its annual ACE grant, will be coming down for one final time on 31 March.
Two weeks ago, the BBC also announced its intention to disband the BBC Singers, the only full-time professional choir in the country, as well as imposing 20% cuts to funding of their three orchestras. In a statement resonant of Orwell’s concept of Newspeak in 1984, the BBC said that this new funding strategy “is bold, ambitious and good for the sector and audiences who love classical music”. Mmm. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.
Yet, despite the current cost of living crisis, in a poll currently being run by The Times, 79% of respondents have said that that they support more public money, not less, being spent on the Arts. I suspect that if I were to ask Wellingtonians and their parents whether we should mirror such cuts within our Arts provision at the College, a resounding and unequivocal ‘No!’ would be the overwhelming response and, for me, there are three main reasons why the Arts must always play a central role in a Wellington Education.
Firstly, as I have written via this medium before, exposure to the Arts, either as a performer or an audience member, teaches us what it means to be human, the topic – of course – of my last Master’s Voice. We are the only inhabitants of planet earth to create art purposefully, proactively and meaningfully. To be creative is therefore to be uniquely human. What is more, every facet of the human experience can be found within the great works of literature and drama, music and dance, and the visual arts too. They provide an encyclopaedia for the human race to explore what it means to live a good (and bad) life, to love and to lose, and to make sense of this world which we all share.
Furthermore, exposure to and participation in the Arts provides the most powerful vehicle by which young people can develop those human skills which not only make us uniquely ourselves, but which are also valued so highly by employers; they are also skills which are desperately needed in a world where AI, robotics and machine learning will continue to do so much for us. I dislike the term ‘soft skills’ for competencies such as teamwork, compassion, communication, collaboration and creativity. There’s nothing soft about them. These are fundamental human skills which any educational institution should strive to inculcate within each and every young person. They are skills which enable us to flourish as human beings and to contribute to the teams to which we will belong in our adult lives, whether this means our families, our workplaces, or wider social communities.
Not only does participating in a production or performing with an ensemble help develop these skills, but the Arts also allow our young people to experience setbacks in a safe environment, whether that’s not getting the part they wanted, stumbling over one’s lines, or forgetting the correct moves in a dance ensemble. These experiences show that it is OK to get things wrong, that it is possible to bounce back, and that learning from our mistakes is a central part of developing resilience and becoming a better version of ourselves.
Finally, there is a rapidly growing evidence base to suggest a strong correlation between exposure to the Arts and positive health and wellbeing outcomes. As the landmark report published in 2017 by the All-Party Parliamentary Group of Arts, Health and Wellbeing states, “The act of creation, and our appreciation of it, provides an individual experience that can have positive effects on our physical and mental health and wellbeing”. How many of us would count amongst our self-care strategies activities such as attending a play, concert or opera? How more deeply nourished do we feel on both an intellectual and emotional level when we have visited a gallery or museum and engaged with some of the greatest cultural artefacts which humans have created? How many of us put on music when we want to unwind and relax?
I am so proud of everything our pupils and staff have achieved together this term in the Arts and I am equally proud that our Arts Fund has given over £66,000 to support Arts projects in local primary and secondary schools this past year. The transformational power and sheer joy of the Arts is something to which every young person and, indeed, every adult should have access. At Wellington, we remain more committed than ever to this mission, despite what might be happening beyond our school gates.