Transcending established structures and reaching out to humanity through art and music in times of crisis
The arts are a force for change and transformation. When linked to culture and identity, their spiritual, creative and symbolic aspects hold the power to transform and modify our personal behaviours, which in turn have repercussions on the collective. The arts can and must align us with lessons and visions of the world through traditional narratives, diverse music and richly resonant images that reach out to our humanity.
In this way, the arts hold concrete power to reveal lessons of truth in relation to climate action and the specific policy changes that must be demanded of businesses, governments and leaders. Recently, for example, the National Arts Centre Orchestra teamed up with Canadian, Indigenous and Northern composers, musicians, visual artists, writers, and scientists to engage in a multidisciplinary conversation that offered a response to the environmental crisis. Even in the early history of Western European culture, the art of music was said to be capable of inducing catharsis leading to personal and collective transformation.
This presentation is intended as a reflection on these aspects of art and music, and conversely, on the structures that, in our institutions, continue to value and protect inflexible systems that contribute to the exclusion of individuals and the stifling of diverse voices.