Amateurs and Professionals: a slightly revised chapter from ‘Where We Dream’
‘Art does not need protecting from untalented practitioners: it can look after itself. But untalented performers might need protecting from their more skilled peers who have an interest in controlling who is and who is not able to take part. There is a parallel with cooking. Preparing one’s own food, however basic or unappetising to someone with a more refined palate, offers satisfactions that the most expensive ready meal cannot give. It is doing, not watching others do. And by doing we can improve our technique and our taste. But it is not always in the interests of processed food retailers or restaurateurs—or indeed the professional arts world—to encourage people in that idea.’
from ‘Prisoners of Love’
Prisoners of Love: Amateurs and Professionals v.2 (05/22) is from Where We Dream: West Bromwich Operatic Society and the Fine Art of Musical Theatre, by Francois Matarasso (Multistory 2012). This version was published on 6 May 2022 at https://miaaw.net
François Matarasso 