Table completion

PresenterHello, and welcome to Focus on the Arts. I'm your host, Dave Green, and this is your very own local radio programme. Every Friday evening we put the spotlight on different arts and culture facilities, and look at the shows and events that are on offer in the coming weeks.

PresenterAnd today the focus is on the National Arts Centre. Now, if you don't already know it yourself, I'm sure you've all heard of it. It's famous throughout the world as one of the major venues for classical music.

PresenterBut did you know that it is actually much more than just a place to hear concerts? The Centre itself is a huge complex that caters for a great range of arts. Under a single roof it houses concert rooms, theatres, cinemas, art galleries and a wonderful public library, as well as service facilities including three restaurants and a bookshop. So at any one time, the choice of entertainment there is simply enormous.

PresenterSo, how did they manage to build such a big arts complex right in the heart of the city? Well, the area was completely destroyed by bombs during the war in 1940. So the opportunity was taken to create a cultural centre that would be what they called the City's gift to the Nation. Of course, it took a while for such a big project to get started, but it was planned in the 60s, built in the 70s, and eventually opened to the public in 1983.

PresenterEver since then it has proved to be a great success. It is not privately owned, like many arts centres, but is still in public hands: it's run by the City Council. Both our National Symphony Orchestra and National Theatre Company were involved in the planning of the project, and they are now based there, giving regular performances every week. And as the Centre is open 363 days of the year, there are plenty of performances to choose from.

PresenterSo, to give you some idea of what's on, and to help you choose from the many possibilities, we've made a selection of the star attractions.

PresenterIf you're interested in classical music, then we recommend you go along to the National on either Monday or Tuesday evening at 7.30 for a spectacular production of The Magic Flute, probably the most popular of all Mozart's operas. It's in the Garden Hall, and tickets start at only 8 pounds, but you'll have to be early if you want to get them that cheap! And remember, it's only on for those two evenings.

PresenterFor those more interested in the cinema, you might like to see the new Canadian film which is showing on Wednesday evening at 8 p.m. in Cinema 2. It's called Three Lives. It's had fantastic reviews, and tickets cost just 4 pounds 50, which is a reduction on the usual price of 5 pounds 50. So it's really good value, especially for such a great movie.

PresenterBut you can see the centre's main attraction at the weekend, because on Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., they're showing a wonderful new exhibition that hasn't been seen anywhere else in Europe yet. It's a collection of Chinese art called Faces of China. That's in Gallery 1, and it has some really fascinating paintings and sculptures by leading artists from all over China. And the good news is that it is completely free, so don't miss it!

PresenterSo why not go along to the National Arts Centre next week for one, or all, of these great events? Next week we'll be looking at the Museum of Science ...

LecturerToday, I'm going to be talking about time. Specifically, I'll be looking at how people think about time, and how these time perspectives structure our lives. According to social psychologists, there are six ways of thinking about time, which are called personal time zones.

LecturerThe first two are based in the past. Past positive thinkers spend most of their time in a state of nostalgia, fondly remembering moments such as birthdays, marriages and important achievements in their life. These are the kinds of people who keep family records, books and photo albums. People living in the past negative time zone are also absorbed by earlier times, but they focus on all the bad things: regrets, failures, poor decisions. They spend a lot of time thinking about how life could have been.

LecturerThen, we have people who live in the present. Present hedonists are driven by pleasure and immediate sensation. Their life motto is to have a good time and avoid pain. Present fatalists live in the moment too, but they believe this moment is the product of circumstances entirely beyond their control; it's their fate. Whether it's poverty, religion or society itself, something stops these people from believing they can play a role in changing their outcomes in life. Life simply is, and that's that.

LecturerLooking at the future time zone, we can see that people classified as future active are the planners and go-getters. They work rather than play, and resist temptation. Decisions are made based on potential consequences, not on the experience itself. A second future-orientated perspective, future fatalistic, is driven by the certainty of life after death and some kind of judgement day, when they will be assessed on how virtuously they have lived and what success they have had in their lives.

LecturerOkay, let's move on. You might ask: how do these time zones affect our lives? Well, let's start at the beginning. Everyone is brought into this world as a present hedonist. No exceptions. Our initial needs and demands, to be warm, secure, fed and watered, all stem from the present moment. But things change when we enter formal education: we're taught to stop existing in the moment and to begin thinking about future outcomes.

LecturerBut did you know that every nine seconds a child in the USA drops out of school? For boys, the rate is much higher than for girls. We could easily say, Ah well, boys just aren't as bright as girls, but the evidence doesn't support this. A recent study states that boys in America, by the age of twenty-one, have spent 10,000 hours playing video games. The research suggests that they'll never fit in the traditional classroom, because these boys require a situation where they have the ability to manage their own learning environment.

LecturerNow, let's look at the way we do prevention education. All prevention education is aimed at a future time zone. We say, don't smoke or you'll get cancer; get good grades or you won't get a good job. But with present-orientated kids, that just doesn't work. Although they understand the potentially negative consequences of their actions, they persist with the behaviour, because they're not living for the future; they're in the moment, right now. We can't use logic, and it's no use reminding them of the potential fall-out from their decisions or previous errors of judgement. We've got to get in their minds just as they're about to make a choice.

LecturerTime perspectives make a big difference to how we value and use our time. When Americans are asked how busy they are, the vast majority report being busier than ever before. They admit to sacrificing their relationships, personal time and a good night's sleep for their success. Twenty years ago, 60% of Americans had sit-down dinners with their families, and now only 20% do. But when they're asked what they would do with an eight-day week, they say, Oh, that'd be great. They would spend that time labouring away to achieve more. They're constantly trying to get ahead, to get towards a future point of happiness.

LecturerSo, it's really important to be aware of how other people think about time. We tend to think, Oh, that person's really irresponsible, or, That guy's power-hungry. But often what we're looking at is not fundamental differences of personality, but really just different ways of thinking about time. Seeing these conflicts as differences in time perspective, rather than differences of character, can lead to more effective cooperation between people, and get the most out of each person's individual strengths.