Is Art Life, or is Life Art?

We need a complete change in attitude when it comes to art in Toronto

Discussion about the importance of art comes up everywhere from education to elections. How much should art be funded? Should it be in the civic or educational curriculum? Can we find a few extra crumbs to sprinkle towards visual arts, music, dance or theatre?

We seem to work as a society from a flawed assumption that art is a frill. Something that we can only afford after we’ve taken care of everything else.

I’d like to challenge that assumption to say that not only is art fundamental to life, art is life - and life is art.

Every time we speak, or put on a smile, we use theatre to express ourselves. We create music when we sing to a baby of course, but also when we speak to a store clerk. We dance when we run for the bus, and whether we’re typing out an email or doodling on an office pad, we make visual marks on landscapes all around us.

What we call “art” is simply bringing joy and a more expansive spirit to each of these modes of expressions. And who we call “artists” are simply people who see the potential for humans to create something beautiful, thought provoking or astounding, and do it with purpose rather than just by accident.

For a long time I referred to myself as “bad at art” - an attitude learned in school where art meant being able to draw something that resembled reality (which so far I have not mastered). But as I spoke to more self-described artists about what art really was, and read about art in a more philosophical sense, I came to understand that art is so much more than a rigidly defined box which few can fit in.

It is from that place of realization that I believe we must revalue art in our society. What if we saw everything we did as an opportunity to incorporate beauty, thought, or amazement into our human experience? What if everything we built was built with an artistic perspective as well as an engineering one? What if we integrated song into our meetings, dance into our cubicles, sculpture into our conferences?

How we each purposefully incorporate art into our lives is up to us. But what we as a city can do to embrace and expand our definition of the arts goes far beyond our current commitments.

So my intentions when it comes to the arts are mere starting points, guided by recommendations I’ve heard from artists and artist groups. There is no end point, since art can surpass all limits, be they financial or otherwise, when we start seeing life as an endless opportunity to create art - and vice versa.

City Budgeting for the Arts

Rather than limit it to a paltry 0.5% of our budget, let’s integrate arts investment in everything we do. And let’s bring participatory budgeting to the arts so residents can feel connected to the artistic creations that the city supports.

Live Arts Officer

The city has a film commissioner and a music officer. Arts organizations recommend the creation of a Live Arts Officer. This seems to hold potential and I am supportive of the idea. If such an officer would mean the artificial separation between Economic Development and the arts would decrease, such a position could be all to the good, and I would be open to other ways of accomplishing the same thing.

Consultation with the Arts and Culture Sector

Bringing artists into the decision making process at the city is key to having the arts throughout our city. And why not bring artists into the design of the consultation process themselves? Rather than bureaucratic or complicated public sessions or surveys, what if consultations were beautiful, thought provoking or astounding themselves?

Space Solutions

Simply put, if housing is unavailable or unaffordable, there is nowhere for those who devote themselves to the arts to live. Increasing our availability of housing will help not just those who think of themselves as artists, but those who perform the art of everyday life - the cooks, the drivers, the builders, the teachers. Along with housing, the city can support the proliferation of places to perform and create so that a lack of space is never again a problem for someone who wishes to bring beauty and joy into our city lives.

Accessibility

Artists come in all shapes and sizes, with all forms of abilities. We need to expand beyond the dancing ballerina and into the varied worlds of those with various challenges and different approaches to everyday life. Removing barriers to accessibility in transportation, outdoor and indoor public spaces means that we will not shut our city off from the artistic contributions of those who are stuck due to poor urban design.

Diversity

We have thankfully moved far beyond the days when only one type of gender or ethnicity was formally recognized as being deserved of artistic recognition. Yet we still have a long way to go. Diversity in every way, even in thought and opinion, must be celebrated. Art is inherently subjective, which means how we see or experience art or artists will be different than others. Certainly we may feel drawn to some artists and their creations more than others, and we are welcome to move away from those who don’t appeal to us. But we must be wary of trying to shut out those we personally resist. We must all shine as brightly as we can, rather than trying to put out the lights of others who we don’t want to see.

Universal Basic Income

Some have called for universal basic income so that people may devote themselves to formal artistic creation rather than try to fit it in after a busy day waiting tables or chauffeuring others. I am open to learning more about this, but am not convinced it is the only solution to ensuring people have the freedom to pursue whatever their calling is. I look forward to exploring the different options to support all residents who wish to pursue their passion.

This post was inspired by a survey asking about my commitment to a series of arts related initiatives from ArtsVote, a group of artists advocating for the arts in the Toronto Municipal Election. More can be added as we continue to discover the beautiful ways that art and daily life is already, and can be more consciously, woven together.

Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash