- One of Canada’s foremost cultural commentators radically reimagines the role of arts and culture in modern democracy.
- The Compassionate Imagination proposes an inspiration, aspirational blueprint for a new Canadian Cultural Contract that embeds art’s powers of imaginative exploration and emotional and spiritual enrichment deep in public policy, to give Canada’s creative community a place at the decision-making table.

- When the author left daily journalism, they took a particular interest in advancing the cause of arts in education – Wyman was a founding member of the Canadian Arts and Learning Action Coalition, chaired the Canadian Commission for UNESCO’s cross-Canada consultations on the topic of arts and education, and led the Canadian delegation to UNESCO’s first world summit on the arts and education in 2006.

- Not only has Wyman has written and spoken extensively, and internationally, at world summits for the arts and education, and co-edited the inaugural yearbook of the International Network for Research in Arts and Learning in 2013, but he has also been an invited consultant and prepared position papers on arts policy and strategy for the Canadian federal government, and the governments of Alberta and British Columbia.
- Max Wyman is one of Canada’s foremost cultural commentators and has been writing on the arts in Canada for over four decades. In 2001 Wyman was named an Officer of the Order of Canada for his work as a champion for the arts.
- Wyman has an enduring passion for dance (as evidenced in the book) though as an observer rather than a participant, with two exceptions – as a young child, Wyman danced for the Queen, and at the age of 71 danced in a production by French choreographer Jerome Bel.