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Al-Ahram Weekly 30 Sep. - 6 Oct. 1999 Issue No. 449 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 30 Sep. - 6 Oct. 1999 Issue No. 449
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Plain talk
By Mursi Saad El-Din
In the domain of art it seems the problems are the same everywhere. The main question posed these days is how to draw the young to high culture: opera, classical music and theatre. The issue of attracting a new audience is in vogue, especially in England where New Labour has been encouraging artists to appeal to a wider cross-section of the public.
A number of writers have dealt with this issue, coming up with a variety of proposals, often, I think, as practicable here as they are in England. The three high-brow genres seem to be addressing an elite, wrote David Lister in The Independent: "white, middle class and middle aged." Yet the guiding principle should be, rather, the attempt to broaden the audience base and attract those elusive first-time attendees.
"The audience is the thing, not just the play" seems to be the latest motto, at least in England. Another question posed is why people who go to the cinema don't go nearly as regularly to plays or concerts. One reason is ticket prices, naturally. A suggested experiment was to reduce theatre ticket prices to the price of cinema tickets and see how this affected the composition of the audience. But there are serious debates about the kind of audience that should be targeted.
Jed Perl, an art critic, argues that "in a participatory democracy we applaud the rise in vote-turnout. Does it follow that we should always applaud a rise in museum attendance, on the theory that people are voting with their feet for culture? If an exhibition is so crowded that you can't look at a painting, is that a good thing?" Who is to say that the number of people visiting a museum or concert hall matters as much as the number of people who respond mentally and emotionally?
One answer is suggested by David Lister, who believes that access to the arts should increase, not simply because they are subsidised by the government but because the aim of the subsidy is to produce work for people who wouldn't otherwise see it. It is important to find new audiences because "if we believe that the arts enrich one's life and extends one's sensibilities, then it is elitist in the worst sense not to strive to share something so life enhancing as widely as possible."
Young people's own responses are another of the issues brought up during those debates. Paul Blackman -- again in The Independent -- recounts how he once took a group of GCE students to see a production of Guys and Dolls, which was a hit in the early 1980s. This was at the National Theatre and none of the students had been there before. Even though they were a culturally diverse bunch, at the end of the show they all rose instantaneously to acclaim the production in unison, in a "cacophony of whooping and whistling and cheering, to the considerable discomfort and embarrassment of those around them." But by the end, though they loved the show, the reserve of other members of the audience had made them uncomfortable. "It wasn't really our sort of place," they concluded. Blackman insists that the experience of a live performance can change one's life, one's politics, one's attitude to authority and to fellow men.
Other, more concrete proposals have been put forward -- to get rid of unsold tickets, for one thing. Every one of these seats is a wasted resource, a missed opportunity. Most events budget for 40 to 70 per cent attendance, so why shouldn't five per cent of the tickets be given away to young people, schools, youth clubs, those who have never been to a theatre before? Education in its broadest sense must be placed at the centre of creative life; the inclusion of an educational department is a strategic necessity for the future of every cultural organisation. Every school, moreover, should have access to professional performing arts -- an activity to be placed at the centre of the curriculum.
As I followed these arguments and discussions, I could not help feeling that they could provide some guidance regarding our own half-empty theatres, galleries and opera house. Maybe those responsible will indeed find them useful.
