REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE ALLIANZ BUSINESS TO ARTS AWARDS CASTLETOWN HOUSE, KILDARE
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE ALLIANZ BUSINESS TO ARTS AWARDS CASTLETOWN HOUSE, KILDARE WEDNESDAY, 20TH MAY 2009
Dia dhíbh a dhaoine uaisle. Tá an-áthas orm bheith i bhur measc anseo ar an ócáid seo. Míle bhuíochas díbh as an gcuireadh agus an fáilte a thug sibh dom.
Good afternoon everyone. It is a pleasure to be here with you today enjoying the grandeur of Castletown House for the Allianz Business to Arts Awards. My thanks to Stuart McLaughlin for his kind invitation.
This is probably the toughest climate that Business to Arts has had to operate in. There is no law that commands you to keep this relationship going from one year to the other. So why, against a very discouraging economic backdrop, when resources are scarce, you keep on bringing such enthusiasm and commitment to the work of encouraging private and corporate business support of the arts in Ireland?
The answer to that question would have been very obvious to anyone who visited one of the award-winners, the Ballymun Music Programme and Music Room, as I did a few months ago with Archbishop Tutu. Over a decade now I have watched school music grow there from a few recorders to as polished a choir and orchestra as I have seen anywhere on this island. They have performed on radio, given live concerts in the Helix, produced CDs and in their faces there is a passion that says these are kids switched on to life, happy kids, confident, curious, enthusiastic and achieving. These are problem-solving kids, not problems - introduced to the world of music, recording, performing, composition, rehearsing, practising, being disciplined, working as a team, overcoming nerves, giving their best and going home exhilarated, looking forward to tomorrow. The investment in those lives of your money, your support and your faith, is paying dividends that are already remarkable and that will grow over a lifetime. In this moment in our history when all other forms of investment are ringed with failure and uncertainty, this form of investment is not. It is the surest bet, the safest bet of them all.
Which of us would want to live in a world where the Arts were shut down, where the music, drama, colour and creativity were absent? John Ruskin once said, "Life without industry is guilt, and industry without art is brutality.” The greyness and drabness of such a world, a world without art and industry, would be intolerable and so you keep on doing what you are doing because you know that harvesting the artistic imagination, ingenuity, innovation and creativity is an essential component of a dynamic civic society and a resilient business community. This relationship is no one-way street. It opens a panorama of opportunities both ways which is why it has sustained, grown and developed. It is why it keeps on going with vigour even in the tough times.
I warmly congratulate Allianz for its continued support to Business to Arts and to these awards. Your organisation, along with the other sponsors - Dublin Airport Authority and TileStyle - are an example to companies nationwide of the huge value for money that is represented by this marriage between business philanthropy and the vast, unlimited realm of the arts. It is great to see a number of the awards bearing the name of that great champion of both business and arts, the late Jim Naughton who would surely be willing this organisation on to remain faithful to its proud mission.
I commend and congratulate all of the winners and projects represented here this afternoon. Each story sends us home happier and more optimistic than we came because each one reminds us of the wonders we can accomplish when we invest generously in hope in one another.
Go n-éirí go geal libh 's go raibh míle maith agaibh.