When you think of an art gallery, a very stereotypical experience might come to your mind. Most people see a silent, reverent room. It’s filled with paintings you don’t understand and people who seem much smarter than you and much more refined. To many, the experience can seem daunting.
Peter Simpson, this year’s Irving Chair in Journalism, said this doesn’t need to be the case.
The Irving Chair in Journalism is a $1-million endowment of the Irving family that brings a distinguished journalist to St. Thomas University each year. As an arts journalist who’s been in the game for a long time, there’s nothing that matters to Simpson more than bringing the arts down to a more accessible level for everyone – something he hopes to teach young journalists during his time at STU.
“The arts are something that define and declare who we are as individuals and as a society,” Simpson said. “We see and interact with art every day, whether we see it or not. It provides us with tremendous insight into ourselves.”
Simpson will be on campus from September until November. He will be readily available to teach young journalists all about the craft and offer advice born from years of being in the field.
Simpson has been surrounded by the arts his whole life. He grew up in Charlottetown, P.E.I., surrounded by books. His first job was at one of the bookstores his parents owned. His house, which already was home to a family of eight, was also always packed with books.
“I loved writing, even as a kid, and I saw journalism as a way to make money while doing that. I’ve never regretted it in a single way.”
Simpson has written in a variety of genres, including news, sports and opinion pieces. However, his passion about the arts remained. According to him, the arts are the culmination of all of humanity’s hard work in building society.
“Once we perfected agriculture, culture became possible,” said Simpson. “Art is our reward for being a civilized society.”
Simpson believes that journalism is the perfect tool to bridge the gap between people and the fine arts, even if it hasn’t done such a great job in the past.
“The media has largely failed the high arts by perpetuating the notion that painting and such is a higher and rarefied thing that stands apart from something like movies, for example,” Simpson said.
He said this doesn’t need to be the case. According to him, the human brain isn’t wired to think critically before we decide if we like something or not. It’s something much more instinctive.
“You’re not going to hesitate to express a personal opinion after coming out of a movie theatre. Most don’t feel qualified to go to an art gallery and say if you like it or not. The average person should be intelligent enough to decide for themselves if they like something or not.”
As a journalist, Simpson considers it his duty to make people more comfortable in their daily experiences with the arts. He doesn’t want to reach just scholars or art students with his writing, but the general population. He wants to teach them that just because they don’t have an arts degree, it doesn’t mean they can’t have an opinion.
“The media should do a better job of explaining that and making people comfortable. You do that by writing about visual arts with plain language, in the way that most people, the average person, would think about.”
Simpson’s love of the arts inspired him to believe journalism doesn’t have to be boring. It’s a form of storytelling that can be treated as such. He shares this belief with Neil Reynolds, the first-ever Irving Chair and someone who is very influential to Simpson.
“He has a saying, ‘journalism is lit on the run,'” Simpson said of Reynolds. “I love that sentiment of seeing journalism as this higher thing, and not just putting a bookcase together. It’s a thing that can be and should be seen as a creative form of writing.”
This is the type of wisdom he hopes to pass on to journalism students during his time as Irving Chair.
He offered his first piece of advice for those considering journalism as an option.
“Ask yourself how much you read. If you don’t read a lot, don’t go into journalism. If you’re not curious about everything, then don’t do it.”
Above all, he really wants to emphasize the importance of good, strong storytelling.
“Every young writer should be thinking about what their voice is,” Simpson said. “You should be aware you are telling a story, and storytelling is a fine and ancient craft.”
