The Defiant Imagination: Why Culture Matters

David E. Kemp, a former professor of drama at Queen’s University, is
the author of The Pleasures and Treasures of the United Kingdom.

Max Wyman is a Vancouver-based writer, critic, and commentator who has
written a number of books on Canadian culture, including Dance Canada:
An Illustrated History, The Royal Winnipeg Ballet: The First Forty
Years, Max Wyman Revealing Dance: Selected Writings, 1970’s–2001,
and Evelyn Hart: An Intimate Portrait.

The Defiant Imagination is essentially an impassioned plea to keep
culture at the heart of the still-unfolding Canadian experiment. The
author suggests that with globalization and technology revolutionizing
the world we live in, we need more than ever to find humane, moral, and
innovative solutions to our problems. If we do not, our social and
economic structure could implode.

Wyman argues for the renewal of the cultural contract between the
Canadian government and its peoples—a contract that boldly commits
Canada to embrace cultural achievement as a catalyst for economic
prosperity, social health, and national identity. Perhaps most
importantly, he urges us not to marginalize culture or treat it as a
frill. It is, in fact, our expressive heritage and very much a reason
for living. Where would we be without our imaginations or our shared
dreams?

The Defiant Imagination emphatically drives home the point that culture
matters. It should be read, and taken seriously, by our political and
business leaders and decision-makers.