The stupidest question I come across all too often is THE question: what is the tangible result of your projects for audiences? Or more broadly drawn: what can art & culture measurably add to lives? Add that question together with the current clamour for 'utility in art' and I get accutely red pimples from these non-answerable questions. And I'm not the only one. Take a moment to read, for instance this correspondence between theatre-makers to read.
THE question was also (at the time) on the grant application forms I faced as a musician. I could not and still cannot answer THE question.
Because how do you measure that, three months after the fact, you still burst happily into a duet at the ticking of a traffic light. How do you measure that you have gained a memory or that you have experienced a touch of Kairos that makes you get through the rest of the day. How do you measure that you are hooked on Pergolesi's for the rest of your life Stabat Mater Or that you imagine yourself on Gregory Porter's lap with your ear against his chest when you hear this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwC1Wb-qUJY
To theatre marketers, theatre chiefs and concert programmers who have experienced my music projects, I asked THE question: what is the measurable result after attending a listening session or column.
With their answers, I surely-well, I would not have passed the first inspection of funds: 'got longer spotify list, my CD collection expanded, I had new aha-erlebnisms in music long known to me, got different ears and a refreshed feeling'. Other reactions read here (and scroll down for a moment).
There are certainly things that can be measured after experiencing art:
Knowledge may have been gained about the Italianising period in 17th-century Holland. You could test that. Better discernment in sound and rhythm may have been obtained. You could test that. Concentration improvement experiencing (testing).
But that, of course, is just the thing. Everything in this world you need to be able to test for market and educational value. Knowledge and skills in itself. Indicating in advance what the effect will be. And you can do that with many things in the world: If you are hungry, you eat. Expected effect: gone hunger. Measurable result: toilet visit.
But of course, that's not (usually) how it works when talking about impact and results of projects in arts & culture. The experiencing, the deepening, the social, the sensory of art making. Truly experiencing art takes time, energy and perseverance. Effects may not be felt until years later. Noticeable in different areas than expected. But no less valuable and useful for that [hints]Besides, useful used to mean ' for the education, improvement and civilisation of the citizen' according to the statutes of Society for the benefit of the public (1784) I read in a article. So utility did precisely not have to be useful in an economic sense. It was only in the service of civilisation[/hints].
And the world really knows it, the value and usefulness of art. Because, sorry for the cliché, who remembers their fat four-wheel-drive car, 2nd house in Spain and yet another handbag on their deathbed?
Getting unique (shared) experiences. Developing yourself. Listening and looking at the world differently. Sharing insights. Being surprised and breaking new ground. That's what art and culture are about. That's what life is about when you no longer have to worry about a bed, a bath and a loaf of bread. And most people in the Netherlands don't have to. And if you do have those worries, you soon find out that a lot can be said with a song. That a beautiful image can be meaningful and that a story can pull you out of a miserable world. And, quite useful (and proven): you can make your feel healthier through art and culture.
Writer and philosopher Joke Hermsen explains in her book Kairos exactly when that 18th-century utility changed into 'economically useful'. So read that book. (Then read it in one go this dialogue between writer Désanne van Brederode and professor Grahame Lock about 'utility') and then let's talk about 'artistic utility' from now on.
The 'economically useful' is currently losing its value more and more anyway. Everywhere you read, you feel the need for 'real'and 'sincere'. Just see the popularity of the TV series Along the banks of the Yangtze River. See the (silent) call for authenticity, sustainability, connection and (spiritual) space beyond the economy. Resulting in remarkably well-attended projects and festivals with those themes. Unfortunately, though, very often initiated by creatives who give a lot (of themselves) for uncertain pay.
So now all that remains is to get it to become normal in today's Netherlands to find this creative energy useful for all sorts of reasons. To stimulate and appreciate this energy.
A suivre!
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