The summer, such as it is in Kendal, usually turns to autumn
during Mintfest (sometimes we go straight to winter). Mintfest is a glorious local treat – a
street arts festival of international quality which brings all sorts out on the
streets in the sun, rain and howling gales.
It’s run by Lakes Alive and the Lakes Alive folk live in town, so it’s
well connected in the community. We generally
see everyone we know in Kendal, parents from school, neighbours, shop owners
and friends of course at some point, and we have lots of conversations about
how funny, moving, jaw-dropping, or ‘arty’ are the many and varied shows.
This year we had a small Spanish circus, www.escarlata.com, staying in our spare
room (no lions). Their show was
exceptional. An hour in a tiny circus
tent, with a vegetable puppet, a knife thrower and his wife - it was charming, funny, gentle – but most of
all, other worldly. The show was
entirely visual, and the only words we shared with the performers were outside
as we left. Giorgio, one of our spare
room guests, asked us to complete their audience book – ‘it’s important to
share the poetry’ he said. In the
Mintfest context, ‘arty’ is generally an insult. But without exception everyone was rapt by
Escarlata’s performance. It was by all
accounts thoroughly ‘arty’ or in Giorgio’s word ‘poetry’, but without any
pretension at all.
Because of the work I do, I am constantly on the look-out
for evidence of the unique offer of ‘culture’ and this made me think. The show had no real social purpose, we were
briefly a group, but there was no audience involvement, or longer term
relationship built. It didn’t deal with
any important issues, or even touch on the human condition. What it did though was to immerse each of us
separately but also together in this other world, where life was gentle, funny and
very real.
The work that I think most interestingly tries to understand
this, comes from Liverpool Arts Consortium (LARC) and is about ‘intrinsic
impact’: http://www.larc.uk.com/uploads/news-downloads/LARC-Intrinsic-Impact-Pilot-Study-Report-June-2011.pdf. Using their definitions, you might describe
the show was captivating. In turn this
reminded me of a conversation I had with an old friend I bumped into in the
street, and forward as I am, after how are you? I asked him ‘are you
happy?’. ‘Yes,’ he said…. ‘well, I’m
absorbed, and that’s the same thing?’
Since then I’ve learnt a lot about
happiness, and worked hard, particularly in the Happy Museum project, in trying
to create wellbeing. Psychologists like Seligman
discuss three types of wellbeing, a pleasant life - happiness in the moment, a
good life – including longer term life satisfaction and a meaningful life –
which also benefits others. The more
sophisticated notions of wellbeing that go beyond happiness describe the notion
of ‘flow’ – where a person’s mood transcends their surroundings and they are
absorbed and engrossed in their task.
The poetry that Giorgio describes seems to me to be the
process of ‘flow’, but where the people are engrossed and captivated not just
on their own but together. The wellbeing
it creates re-charges the emotional batteries to cope with a little more normal
life, and is in my view, one of the unique things that ‘culture’ does.
