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Culture brings the city together – it defines a city, it defines its people. It’s about storytelling and communication and understanding who your fellow man is.
In London, we have these incredible institutions that are free. People don’t realise that you can walk into the National Gallery during your lunch break and have a look at a painting. We have all these incredible institutions and so much public art on the streets. There’s a reason it’s there: people feel happier, more productive and more inspired when they’re around art and culture.
Every facet of my own existence is rooted in the arts. I’ve missed everything. It feels like the heart and soul of our city has been zapped away – and it has, because the arts are so important. Look at Chila Burman’s work, which was the outside light installation at Tate Britain during Diwali [last year]. You’d go down there and it was like a festival – there were people sitting on the street with beer, outside one of our nation’s most important art galleries. People were desperate for culture, desperate to touch the art, to feel something. That felt really inspiring to me – that even in these moments of adversity when everything was shut, the opportunity to experience art was what everybody flocked to.
The arts adapt, they don’t sit still and think: We’ll let this blow over and carry on doing what we did before. At any moment in history, whatever’s happening, the arts are projecting out what is happening in the narrative of a nation – and they always adapt. We’ve seen that with digital productions and online galleries throughout the pandemic – you have to forge ahead and make sure that stories are still being told, because what have people turned to during the pandemic? The arts. Whether it’s watching box sets, reading, trying to learn about art or picking up crafts, it’s been inspiring to see how we’ve adapted and everyone’s gone back to art and culture.
Now we’ve had this pause, people are going to come out and rediscover culture and what’s around them. We’re hopefully going to have this renaissance when everything has opened up again properly. I’m excited about being part of that. There should be a new-found respect for the arts. The pandemic has shown how important it is to support them.
I think a lot of institutions, small spaces and artists have struggled. For emerging artists on every level – writers, directors, actors, artists – it’s been really tough. In the short term, we need people and businesses to get back on their feet. It’s going to be a slog but I'm hopeful that things will rapidly pick up. People are desperate for that – look at how all the outside seating has been booked up at pub gardens and restaurants. That’s such a positive sign. For the business owners, what a relief that must be to see that people are flocking back and want to support and rebuild our city.
It’s amazing that we can walk around exhibitions online but when you go and see work in the flesh, there’s nothing like it. Seeing live theatre is indescribable. When you’re sat in an audience that is enthralled and connected to a performance on stage, there’s nothing like that collective experience. The basic necessity of what it is to be human is storytelling – it’s what we’ve done since back in the day when people drew on cave walls. As humans, we need to tell stories to each other to understand each other – and the only way to do that is through the arts.
‘King’s Cross: Art + Culture Tour’, a free audio guide narrated by Russell Tovey, launches on Apr 27.
Ready for some culture? These London art galleries are open to visitors right now.
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