Art and culture are wonderful things, but they are a luxury. With people dying on our streets do to homelessness, drug and alcohol problem, starvation (malnutrition), mental health issues or a victim of crime, in my way of looking at it, we can't afford it. In the end you are sacrificing a life so you can feel all warm and fuzzy to a select few.
Jim Van Rassel

Mr Van Rassel makes a good point, but overlooks a better one.

Art defines and illuminates us. It communicates across the globe the truths of the human heart. It does all of these things in spirit and joy and fear and power. Our species was making cave paintings at the beginning of recorded history. Art has always been part of our DNA.

Who was the Mayor of Vienna when Mozart lived there?

Answer: no one knows. No one cares. All that matters is that Mozart was once alive, creating immortal music and characters and stories.

Canada is an extraordinarily rich nation, and Vancouver perhaps its most prosperous city. We can do everything Mr Van Rassel wants us to do.

We can do almost everything our creative impulse demands we do.

Art is how we remember who we are, and what we imagine we could be. It is essential.

Most of the social ills that Mr. Van Rassel cites are obviated in a lively artistic and cultural milieu. If we had more art and music we would have fewer sick people. Art is already proving to be a vital restorative force in our troubled downtown east side. Events like the Heart of the City Festival demonstrate this clearly, and organizations like the Community Arts Council and the Saint james Music Academy are providing life-giving and life-enhancing opportunities for people of all ages. Investment in the arts returns a thousand-fold in social dividends.

As Mr. Barber alluded to above, art has been part of human life from its very beginnings. People who lived in caves and had to work very hard to scrape out a bare living - they had art; they told stories, played music on drums and flutes, painted pictures. Clearly, art isn't about [not just about] providing amusement for the luxurious bored.

Humans are social beings, like lions, antelope, bees, but unlike other social animals, we are also self-aware. Being self-aware isolates us, each in our own skin; we recognize that we can't *really* know what is going on in other people's heads. This works against community [a good thing, btw, for those who want people to be interchangeable worker parts].

Artists bridge the gap between all these isolated individuals; artists evoke emotion and recognition; art is what allows us to recognize ourselves in other people, other people in ourselves. Art facilitates empathy; without it there can be no community and no hope.

Jim Van Rassel, the ills of a few thousand incredibly unfortunate people in Vancouver is but a drop in the ocean compared to the suffering of hundreds of millions of people worldwide who do not have the support network that the disadvantaged people in Canada have. Why don't you care about them?

Libraries and seniors activity programs cost the city a great deal of money. Perhaps we should shut them down until every addict or mentally ill person is cured.

Art has proven to be an legitimate prevention tool for many of the ailments that you mention, Mr Van Rassel. Art is also a proven strategy in addressing most of these existing conditions and increasing awareness about them. As someone who used to work in social services and currently as the Artistic Producer of a theatre company that produces original wellness based plays with youth, I have personally seen on many occasions how art is the only thing that has provided an alternative to drug and alcohol use, and has dramatically improved or prevented metal health conditions, which is at the core of many of these other conditions. Art is not frivolous. Art gives meaning and purpose. Meaning and purpose provide hope and a solid foundation of positive mental health. Skills learned through art are practical and applicable to all other areas of life. Art provides confidence and inspires community. Even corporations recognize the value of art. Corporations pay me to come in and teach their managers and employees to be more creative and innovative, to become better communicators and to enhance the performance of their team. Not frivolous stuff. By promoting and cultivating a vibrant arts community we are not "sacrificing a life", we are enhancing, and in many cases, saving lives.