Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Ford Statement on Importance of Arts Amidst Pressing Poverty
Art of Change Fellow and former South African Constitutional Court Judge Albie Sachs asked an audience at the Ford Foundation: “Is it right to fund art when there is still so much hunger and homelessness in the world?”
As a Constitutional Court justice in post-apartheid South Africa, Sachs had an opportunity to confront this question directly. In 1994, a small pot of money was allocated by the court to commission artwork to decorate its new building. At the time, some asked whether it was right to fund art while many in the country were still facing hunger and homelessness.
Ford Foundation President Darren Walker picked up this thread in a recent talk. Walker explained that the Ford Foundation views the arts as critical to advancing social justice: “The arts quite simply enable us to be fully human. As a foundation committed to social justice, the creative spirit that gives us art and beauty cannot be disregarded or dismissed as a luxury for the well-off or left to a few. We must embrace the arts as integral to very idea of human dignity....”