This section is about freedom.
In a foreword that was added to his published diaries in 1999, Sir Peter Hall says:
“Entertainment should aspire as well as amuse. Art should provoke as well as celebrate, disturb as well as reassure. If it is original, it is likely at first sight to be elitist. Popular art can be vigorous art, and original, but it is less likely to be so if its popularity is contrived by marketing budgets and hype.”
This links into the idea that freedom of choice and freedom of expression are not freedom at all.
Art should allow you to be free to emote. Otherwise it doesn’t satisfy that genuine need in you. But we probably don’t realise this, because we’re so used to the idea that marketing = freedom.
There are other sections prompted by the intro to Peter Hall's Diaries:
- a section about ‘high-brow’ and ‘low-brow’.
- a section about the appeal of the ‘old’ arts to the young.
- a section that links into teaching the craft.
- a section about the social value of the arts.
