The arts are an integral part of human experience. They enable people to express ideas, beliefs and feelings and to experience the world in ways they have not done before. The arts have played a central rather than a peripheral role in the development of civilisations. They form part of a complex structure of beliefs and rituals, and moral and social codes. The arts provide us with ways of looking at ourselves and of imagining our future. The visual arts often communicate more strongly than language, and frequently aim to make statements of a didactic or morally instructive kind.