I believe that the arts will continue to provide us with new insights into the human condition. As they have in the past, these insights will enable us to  meet the challenges of the future. Yet at present our national consciousness wanders in a no-man's land. 

Guided by outdated traditions perpetuated by our own wishful thinking, we find ourselves overwhelmed by the complex technology which surrounds us. The pastoral dream we have inherited can no longer shelter us in a world where the unwelcome predictions of Malthus, Huxley, and Orwell threaten to become real. 

We must bring together high-tech reality and pastoral ideal and form a new foundation for our aspirations. We must find new paths through the increasingly complex mazes which are the results of advancing technology. We must imagine new freedoms in response to new constraints and new hopes in response to new fears. We must weave the threads of the past into new patterns for the fabric of the future. We must create new dreams." 
 

                             Jonathan Talbot -- 1996