24th March 2025

Of great concern to many at the moment is the situation of the creative arts in the UK. The recent abolition of the music department at Cardiff University is just one example of diminishing government support at national and regional level, seen also in the steady disappearance of music, the visual arts, drama and dance from many schools’ curricula. There are also fears for the future of established theatres, orchestras and other centres of creativity. ‘So what?’, may be the standard response, ‘aren’t these things just luxuries compared with health, housing, and transport infrastructure, not to mention defence? Do we really need them?’

Yes we do, if what matters to us is what keeps us human and not merely animals or machines. Christians should recognize the arts as high among God’s providential gifts of goodness, truth and beauty. They become more, not less, important in times of need, stress and public anxiety. Think of the crowds of people during World War II queuing to hear Dame Myra Hess’s lunchtime piano recitals and concerts at the National Gallery (equally, think of Hitler banning jazz saying it was decadent, but really knowing it demonstrated a freedom of spirit that no regime could control).

Bishop George Bell of Chichester, a great patron of the arts in the twentieth century, described them as ‘auxiliaries of the Gospel’ – not themselves the Gospel but opening our eyes and ears to our human condition as God’s creatures, and to signs and possibilities of grace (and not only when used explicitly to convey religious faith). Tyndale has a long tradition of supporting them. May we continue to do so!

Keith Clements