WHY IS ART AN ESSENTIAL SERVICE?
TOM SCOTT, Avantdale Bowling Club “Essential is food, water, shelter, health care, education ... and somewhere down that list you might get art. I think art is a luxury. We’re lucky to have it. But it’s not essential to life.” — Tom Scott (pictured right) and Avantdale Bowling Club, Hopetoun Alpha on Friday, October 23, Elemental Nights
JACQUELINE COATS, “Art allows us to make sense of what we’re going through. Art allows us to escape from what we’re going through. Art gives makers and audiences a way to experience, to express, to say the things that are difficult to say. Art can inspire, empathise, change minds. But most of all, art is a reason for people to gather, to commiserate, to celebrate. It creates community and, in a time of crisis, community is essential.” — Jacqueline Coats (pictured right), associate director for New Zealand Opera’s production of September 10-19, Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland. nzopera.com
KODY NIELSON, Opossom
“I believe that art is essential to a functioning society. Art is older than money, it has been practised for centuries before the invention of the engine, plumbing or even the wheel, and is part of our humanity.”
— Opossom perform at Hopetoun Alpha on Tuesday, October 20 as part of Elemental Nights
MATTHEW DAVIS, Flying Out
“Since the Covid-19 crisis started, I’ve turned to art for comfort and to help understand my own feelings.
I’ve been writing so many songs, with great urgency, as a way to create order out of disorder, which is exactly what music is —it is ordered sound, it is harmonised chaos. Why is it that music can give you goosebumps? Why can music make you cry or feel like you’re in love? Because it is uniquely special, and it is one of our greatest art forms. Every night I strum through a Neil Young songbook and it gives me a whole universe to go into, it’s the most sane thing in the world to me right now. There’s nothing that soothes a troubled soul like music, and we’ve seen clear evidence of this at our record store in recent times, with people using music as a coping mechanism, a welcome distraction and a way to support each other. Coming out of lockdown, one thing that everyone definitely missed is the ability to come together and celebrate — and that’s really what our festival, The Others Way, is all about. We couldn’t do our festival without the community that surrounds it — from the artists, the venues, volunteers and the fans — and it’s a great chance to bring everyone together after a period of huge uncertainty.” — The Others Way, September 11, across Karangahape Rd. Tickets at flyingout.co.nz
BIC RUNGA, King Sweeties
“There is another reason why art is important in this crisis, especially music, and it’s because if we supported and mobilised our country’s musical talents, our economy could be helped significantly. New Zealand needs to get a bigger share of the US$20 billion pie that is global digital streaming revenue alone. We don’t really need to go anywhere to do that. When I wrote my first song, Drive, it changed my life. I made a living and I employed people.
For something that comes only from inside your imagination, this is extraordinary to me. I would like to see songwriting taught in schools, for the cathartic and emotional benefits it can have to anyone, as well as the huge economic potential it could have for our country.” — King Sweeties, Tuesday, October 20, at Hopetoun Alpha as part of Elemental Nights
REB FOUNTAIN, musician
“Art transcends politics and plagues. Art embraces and expands the human spirit. Art distracts us, nurtures us and connects us with our hearts. That is why you’ll find a piano being played in the middle of a war-torn city or graffiti murals expressing dissent, joy or loss just as much as you will find musicians livestreaming or performing for their neighbours when they can’t leave their houses. Dance, music, film and art reflect the expression and expansion of our humanity. As artists we do it for the love, we do it because it is necessary; necessary for us as individuals and for society and culture as a whole. Art is fundamental to our individual and collective wellbeing. Art is our anchor.”
Reb Fountain 2020 NZ Tour, October 23-November 21; tickets from Banished Music, Ticketek
King Sweeties – Bic Runga and Cass Basil.