You brought it up, so let's take a closer look.
The Colony is a reality television program produced by the Discovery Channel that follows how a group of people
might survive in a post apocalyptic environment.
From what I gather from just the first sentence, in the Wikipedia entry for 'The Colony', is that there is a possibility that someone
might survive differently. After all, the lore of Xyson refers to us as the 'descendants' of survivors. Who's to say that we should be limited by our need to merely survive? Isn't survival more than just Food/Water/Shelter? Survival of the mind... of the soul, in fact, requires much more than the meager necessities.
Art and Culture are just as much a part of the long-term survival of our race. To look beyond the grassy knoll and see something that only the mind's eye can envision, and yet... to be denied that very thing that allows one to express him/herself as an individual, would devastate the soul.
As our goal in Xsyon is to survive, we are tasked to embrace these things, in order to not only survive as an individual, but to thrive as a community.
Reference(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Construction_foreman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Col...._TV_series%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture
P.S.- For some reason, I get the feeling that I just wrote a short speech... and I'm not even good at that sort of thing.