Tough periods for the arts and practitioners can be inspirational, producing original and challenging work; but is it necessary to suffer for the arts? As recession haunts the early 21st Century, and budgets are cut to tackle government debt and borrowing, people ask: What is the role of the arts in hard times? How do they help people deal with both social problems/crises and their own private fears? Writing in the UK’s Daily Telegraph, 23 October, 2010, Mark Hudson wondered: ‘Is austerity the mother of creativity?’ As a writer himself, he described the difficulty of earning a living writing, particularly in the UK, but said that financial pressure can act as creative spur when people are forced to be inventive to survive. The same may be true of arts organisations, theatres, dance studios, … Read entire article »