St. John’s
Government’s interest in the arts until very recently has been minimal. Reasons have been advanced for this, the most common one has been that in a society struggling for survival bread was more important than culture. As this idea was advanced in the main by a class whose philistinism was matched o...
| Published in: | Canadian Theatre Review |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress)
1974
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/ctr.2.010 https://ctr.utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/ctr.2.010 |
| Summary: | Government’s interest in the arts until very recently has been minimal. Reasons have been advanced for this, the most common one has been that in a society struggling for survival bread was more important than culture. As this idea was advanced in the main by a class whose philistinism was matched only by its corporate and political insensitivity, it didn’t hold too much water. With the exception of a few individuals, notably in the visual arts, the problem was left in the hands of a few dilettantes with social pretensions who saw, in the Dominion Drama Festival, not merely an opportunity for the amateur groups to exercise their talents, but an occasion at which to practise the dictatorial philanthropy so beloved .of that organization. Fortunately for Newfoundland, unlike the rest of Canada, no professional regional theatre was contemplated where those attitudes could simply be transferred from a comparatively harmless amateur preoccupation to a professional situation where they could effectively strangle the potential and creative energy of a people. |
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