Monday, March 7, 2011

What are we fighting for?

The story goes that when Winston Churchill was told by his finance minister that arts funding must be cut in favour of the war effort, he simply replied ‘then what are we fighting for?’

The story is apocryphal, but the sentiment is not, and it may be one to bear in mind as the furore over the future of cultural heritage in Christchurch grows increasingly heated in the wake of the devastating earthquake on 22 February.

Meanwhile, if further proof were needed of the enduring importance of art and culture in times of crisis, may I present this photograph, submitted by an anonymous artist to a new site celebrating local creativity: Show Us Your Longdrops.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love everything you write and sometimes I wonder why the Press or the Listener or one of the Sunday papers doesn't beg you to write for them but that's their loss. The end!