A plea to readers of this blog

As cultural institutions start opening up, please visit them. They have taken immense pains to make their spaces safe for visitors. There are also advantages: it is now possible to see the pictures in a gallery, because of the absence of crowds.

The survival and flourishing of these places is now in question: it is really a case of 'use it or lose it.' Visiting one of these places involves taking risks ; but one takes risks every day, without conscious thought. The difference now is that we have to think about risk. Is that necessarily a bad thing ?

This plea is nothing to do with 'putting the economy back on its feet.' The arts express our humanity ; and find their greatest fulfillment in collective experience. If you doubt this, let your doubts be contradicted by renewed experience of the arts. If the government has been so dilatory in its support of the arts, it has to be shamed into supporting the arts in the future. So: please go to an exhibition, go to a museum, see a film.