Bulletin Winter 1976

1. They are inextricably bound up with giving pleasure; 2. They develop aesthetic literacy and are the whetstone of the senses for reshaping a person's felt-thought; 3. Standing in the present, they look back to the past and forward to the future, preserving and transmitting cultural heritages and acting as the agents of cultural change and extension. They incorporate elements of the traditional and conventional on the one hand, and of the speculative, exploratory, experimental and innovative, on the other hand. 4. They reveal craft, concern and commitment to concepts and materials. They do not cheat but have complete integrity. Vision and skill are united. This notion is beautifully expressed in the following lines from a sonnet by Michelangelo: The marble not yet carried can hold the form of every thought the greatest artist has, And no conception can yet come to pass unless the hand obeys the intellect. (A sonnet by Michelangelo to Vittoria Colonna ， translated by Elizabeth Jennings.) 5. They provide the means whereby humans may satisfy the human urge to create and also to press out their significant thoughts and feelings in communicable form, so that these thoughts and feelings may exist in others. Often symbolisation is used which appeals to human understanding beyond rationality. 6. The Arts impose some credible order and pattern on part of the flux and chaos of the shifting amorphousness of real experience, in order that a significant aspect of human experience may be crystallised for us. Life, or more exactly, a highly-charged, concentrated version of life is "made-real" in manageable portions, so that we may experience varied visions of life, and are able to relate the experiences of others to our own experiences. Without this sifting agent the full flow of experiences would sweep by without giving us a chance to experience many things deeply. In a way, to use an analogy from television, Art is action-replay. 7. They are the disturbing elements which shake up complacency, jolt one out of a rut, and quicken one's critical discrimination. 8. They develop the interpretative and synoptic and problem-solving aspects of learning. 9. Last but certainly not least, they encourage attitudes which tolerate a cultural diversity which makes for cultural pluralism, tolerance, peaceful co-existence and a recognition and fostering of the uniqueness of human beings. The arts are integral parts of each culture, but recognise that the arts within the diverse cultures of the World differ in their functions and meanings. All cultures have some aspects of the arts in common (dance, drama, song, etc.) yet each culture has its individuality in the arts. The World Congress, through a wide range of activities and experiences (lectures, discussions, workshops, exhibitions, displays, performances, social and recreational activities) will highlight the ways in which education through the arts can assist people's growth through increased awareness and understanding of their own culture and other cultures. May I give each one of you here today the warmest possible welcome to join with teachers concerned with education through the arts in Adelaide in 1978. I feel that the following words from T.S. Eliot's poem East Coker are applicable not only to education in general, but also to this Conference: We must be still and still moving Into another intensity For a further union, and a deeper communion There is no doubt in my mind, and I am sure in yours, that the arts in education are powerful forces for moving us into another intensity, a further union, a deeper communion. During the next few days, this Conference will likewise move us to “a further union - a deeper communion" . I am delighted and honoured to be with you today, as the Australian representative, to be able to help advance the worthy aims of INSEA and to participate in the 4th Asian Conference of INSEA.