So how big is the difference in quality between a professional and amateur performance?
I'm asking because I enjoyed an am-dram production of A Little Something for the Ducks, presented recently by Theatre 3 Newtownabbey in a national competition at The MAC.
It was moving, funny, well directed by Paul Cuming and nicely performed by two veteran actors, Dorothy Wylie and Harry Montgomery. More Waiting for God than Waiting for Godot, Jean Lenox Toddie's play allowed you to inhabit old age via an encounter between two American Jewish old timers living in a home.
Samuel can't remember exactly when his wife died, Irene gets cross when he feeds the eponymous birds (one he's named Nellie) as a sign forbids it. The loneliness of getting older is revealed as he says he's considered suicide. But before wading into the water, he'll fold his expensive suit and leave it for somebody else to find. Naturally, it has a happy ending.
It's worth noting Liam Neeson and Jamie Dornan emerged via roles with local amateur companies. My late big sister, Vlasta, was a professional actress, trained at Central, played some great roles. She went into education but continued acting and directing, initially with a top, politically committed amateur company Playcraft. An amateur pursues something for love.
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The Arts Council fosters young talent via initiatives like Crescendo, a creative partnership with the Ulster Orchestra and schools in north and west Belfast.
Professional musicians go into the classroom, affording kids the chance to play a cello or a flute. The Shankill Children's Zone, Colin Neighbourhood Partnership and Queen's University Innovation Zones have been involved for seven years. Neil, aged 7, from Malvern Primary School, said pre his Ulster Hall concert he wanted to do violin at secondary school "because I just want to continue doing it".
We need political support too and I like Keir Starmer's comment about the "value of art and music in learning" which he's determined to focus on.
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Our great folk music tradition is highlighted on July 28 in The Duncairn in a Belfast Tradfest concert about the folk song collector and travel writer Richard Hayward: Romancing Ireland.
These songs were popularised by amateurs and professionals and are now hardwired into our culture. Paul Clements, ace biographer of travel writer Jan Morris, provides the narration while folk singers Jane Cassidy and Maurice Leyden perform numbers like Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye and The Rambling Irishman.
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Congratulations to Michael Magee, who has been shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction prize, for his novel Close to Home. It tells the story of Sean - who is the first member of his working-class family to go to university - and his struggles to readjust to life at home in Belfast after he graduates.
