François Matarasso

It’s very common to hear people say that they are passionate about the arts, or that passion drives their work, but the word has always worried me. I understood why as I read Against Empathy by the social psychologist Paul Bloom. Writing about the limitations of empathy he argues for the primacy of reason over feeling in moral decision-making. That is exactly the problem. Being able, even imperfectly, to recognise, understand and control feelings is the very definition of human responsibility.

Passion is not, in itself, a good thing. Powerful emotion is close to loss of control, and sometimes beyond it, which explains the idea that there are crimes of passion. Passion is natural in young people but it is not useful if I am running an arts organisation, or working with others in co-creation. What I need is knowledge, craft, care, discipline, belief, courage, compassion and a clear head.

I enjoy my work more because I love it, and probably do it better, but enduring love is not passion—it is commitment, thought-through and tempered, with deep reserves to weather setbacks, flexing with life’s changes and always true to itself.

Emotion belongs in the art. Making it possible requires commitment, not passion.

PS It’s nearly March, and the days are noticeably longer, for which I’m very thankful; this morning dawned with a clear sky, and sun above the mist,