Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs
Why the Arts Matter: Discussion
Mr. Philip King:
That is the motto. I asked a person there what it was about. He said they keep the music at the heart of their town. They like to attract creative interesting people who can develop intellectual property and new stuff. They reach out to people throughout the United States. They set up the town in that way and it is a cool place to live. It is a blue dot in a red state. It has great music and food. Technology people who like to work in the middle of the night and who dream up this, that and the other decide to live in Austin. They cluster around the lifestyle of the place itself.
Of course, we are looking a gift horse in the mouth in that sense. We have got it. We do not even need to make it up. We do not have to go to a marketing agency, advertising agency or creative agency, as they are called now. We are a creative agency. Fintan O'Toole said in Dublin Castle that we have soft power. It is the only power we have but it is very effective. I will go back to my three words. The first two are "audible" and "visible". If we are audible and visible, then we become considerable and a consideration. The people in Austin who have great music said that was why they wanted us there. They said it was because it was cool and they liked what we do and that was why they wanted us to bring our thing over there.
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