Value of art has been ignored

Sir, - I was disturbed to read that a proposal has been made by Monifieth councillor Ben Lawrie for Angus Council to consider raising funds by selling its art collection.

You quote him as saying: “I’m sure they’re of significant cultural value but I don’t see how this benefits the average Angus resident.”

In making the statement he is simply wrong and I would be happy to explain to him the basics of how arts and culture inform our inner lives and enhance our emotional existence.

Those are things of immense value to everyone. Art is not a luxury. It enriches lives and leads us to aspire to be more than we are.

When addressing Mr Lawrie, however, I understand such an explanation is likely to fall on deaf ears.

Instead, let me point him at any of the analyses of the measurable impact on society, the economy, education, health and wellbeing that arts and culture have.

He might start with www.artscouncil.org.uk/

sites/ default/ files/ download-file/ Value_ arts_ culture _ evidence_ review.pdf

Our arts and culture are a strategic resource.

In a period when communities scramble to be awarded city of culture status, when major refurbishment of theatres and art galleries take place in communities on either side of Angus and when Dundee systematically invests in reinventing its cultural life, Mr Lawrie wants to sell the cultural assets of Angus.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for life says the proverb. Angus has a whole sea of fish. It just needs its councillors to stop trying to wipe them out.

Your job, Mr Lawrie, is not to cover over the failings of your budget by selling the art collection.

It is to act in a manner worthy of the trust placed in you by the community and find a way to make the region’s assets contribute to the coffers. The fact they do not currently do so is not their failing. It is yours. Professor John Morrison. History of Art, University of Aberdeen.