A rich season of artistic offerings is suddenly even more relevant at a time of grave national crisis

In the days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, people involved in the arts as creators, performers and audiences took a pause — from music and painting, from theater and poetry. But many, those who could, started again within a day or even a few hours.

Members of the Albany Symphony Orchestra found solace and purpose in a Beethoven funeral march they added to their season-opening programs. Theater casts across the nation, including locally, returned to rehearsing and performing. Last Sunday, the group Earth, Wind and Fire delivered a rousing, funky concert at the Pepsi Arena in Albany.

And a crowd of thousands boogied along.

Those dancing folks weren't being disrespectful. They were having a good time. That's allowed. It's worthwhile.

The arts are neither impotent nor irrelevant in the face of tragedy or during times of strife. Indeed, they offer much that is beneficial as we Americans progress, at our own speeds and however we can, from incomprehension to grief to a settled, if sadder, routine.

Paul Kellogg, artistic director of the New York City Opera, spoke to audiences last weekend before a City Opera premiere, saying he hoped they would find onstage ``catharsis, consolation, shared experience, reaffirmation of civilized values (and) distraction.''

At their simplest, the arts provide an entertaining mental break. At their best, they help us make sense of the world's confusions and cataclysms. That's because the arts are complete, ordered. A song starts, takes us somewhere — offering wisdom and melodies along the way — and ends. We're reassured. A play is, for its two hours' strut upon the stage, a contained universe we can visit for insight and instruction, humor and humility.

A performance that took place the day after the attacks illustrates this. The talented Albany singer and pianist Nate Buccieri did his regular Wednesday-night gig at the Fuze Box, on lower Central Avenue. He romped through a bunch of tunes — Stevie Wonder, Elton John, showstoppers from musicals — then went wistful and sad for a while. Each song supplied diversion, delight. Surely no one in the club forgot the events of the previous day, but they could, for just part of an evening, be nourished by focusing on something else. Later, Buccieri invited a friend up onstage, and together they sang the national anthem. (This past Wednesday, he performed his own new, soul-swelling patriotic ballad.) Loose and playful at first during ``The Star-Spangled Banner,'' their voices soon rose in gorgeous harmony, the piano thundering under them in support. It was a stirring moment.

Keep these thoughts in mind as you peruse our annual Fall Arts Guide in the following pages. Between today and Thanksgiving, there are events to help you heal and others to make you laugh. You'll find Very Serious Art and stuff that is just plain silly. Each has its place.