If art is a nation’s soul

In my work on the land I have seen many living things stunted and deformed from the harsh realities that exist there. Some of the survivors are tough, hard-nosed little bastards that I find I admire greatly. Art forms, such as poetry and public bodies that support them can similarly face tough times, unable to flourish when neglected or under-funded by the society they stem from and nourish.

Yes, the artist will survive, most long enough at least to say something, they always do; but what treasures are lost when the living’s too hard? If art is a nation’s soul, we starve it at our peril while we feed the unworthy from the table of own self righteous ideology. Continue and we will, if we haven’t already done so, breed a tough, hard-nosed, bastard of a society, which for some reason we won’t admire at all.