In coronavirus-hit UK, lockdown has been a royal pain in the arts. Can £1.5 billion save its world-famous culture sector?
- Grants and loans unveiled after desperate warnings that thousands of jobs and many cultural bodies were at risk
- Live performances remain banned because of the risks they pose of spreading Covid-19
The UK government has announced a £1.57 billion (almost US$2 billion) Covid-19 rescue package for the country’s arts and heritage venues to loud applause from leading cultural organisations. But with thousands of jobs at risk, there was concern it could still be too little, too late.
“Arts are the cultural beating heart of our nation,” said Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden when announcing the measures on Monday. “From Shakespeare to Ed Sheeran, they enrich our lives but also they make us an economic powerhouse – creative industries, we are a world leader in all of them.”
The UK considers itself to be a world leader in the arts, with nine per cent of global music sales attributed to British musicians. According to a 2019 report by Arts Council England, the cultural sector contributed more than £10 billion to the economy, more than the farming sector. Theatreland and concerts also spill over to other parts of the economy including bars and restaurants, hotels and tourism. The UK music industry alone contributed £5.2 billion to the UK economy in 2018, according to the industry body UK Music, with music exports in the same year worth £2.73 billion.
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The vast majority of art galleries, theatres and music venues have gone dark during the three months the country has been locked down and the gates of stately homes and museums shut to the public. Famous events like Glastonbury were cancelled, as was August’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world’s largest arts festival.
It is estimated that the music industry alone lost £21 million in concert revenue in the first three weeks of lockdown, which began in March.
Prestigious venues like the Royal Albert Hall and the remodelled Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre have warned they face closure without government support.
The sector has already started to haemorrhage jobs. The National Theatre on London’s Southbank announced it was getting rid of 250 staff. Nimax, the company that owns six West End theatres is to make a third of its workforce redundant, while Manchester Royal Exchange planned to lay off 65 per cent of its permanent employees.
While those internationally renowned venues should be safe, there was concern for the smaller music venues and theatres, the kind of basement joints that have spawned the likes of actor Michael Caine, The Beatles and David Bowie.
“Covid has thrown our theatres, arts and cultural venues into a perilous position and 70 per cent were expected to run out of cash by the end of the year,” said Nickie Aiken, a Conservative MP for Cities of London and Westminster where the capital’s famed Theatreland is situated.
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“If these venues collapse, so do the local pubs, bars, hotels and restaurants that rely on them. For every pound spent at the theatre, a further £5 is spent in the local economy.”
Theatre bosses and industry trade bodies welcomed the government’s “lifeline” package, with a number of them quoted on the government’s own press release.
“We hope this investment will provide meaningful support for the whole sector: for the skilled workforce who create world-class theatre, and for theatres and companies at every scale throughout the UK,” the Royal Shakespeare Company said in a statement. “We are all ready to be part of a powerful civic, emotional and economic recovery for the country, and will be invaluable contributors to the UK’s ability to re-emerge from the pandemic locally, nationally and on a world stage.”
Dowden said priority would be given to the UK’s “crown jewels – so institutions which are nationally and internationally renowned”.
In a statement the government said “decisions will be made in the coming weeks” on who would receive what will be a mixture of loans and grants, following consultations with relevant bodies like the British Film Institute and Arts Council England.
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But quietly some say the devil is in the detail and a lot more needs to be done to support the freelancers in sound, theatre lighting and events management who have fallen through the cracks of government Covid-19 income support schemes.
“Honestly, if I was someone who worked in sound and was dependent on touring, I don’t know how reassured I’d be feeling right now,” said singer Sophie Ellis Baxter, who has gained new fans during lockdown by posting videos on social media of her performing at home with her children.
“They are scared, they are angry they feel there has been no guidelines, no plan.”
However, the government has yet to give a date when theatres and music venues will be permitted to raise the curtain again, and Dowden said it was unlikely there would be a Christmas pantomime season this year.
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“This is a hugely welcome response to weeks of lobbying from Britain’s theatres, providing a lifeline at the very last possible moment. It’s a great deal of money,” said Professor Tony Howard of Warwick University’s Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies.
“But what are the arts in Britain? It’s a huge, complex and diverse web of national institutions, struggling small companies, freelance creators, and minority voices – and the urgent challenge now is to release those funds and target them where they’re needed.”
“What is at stake is the loss of a cultural history and an identity of our nation that is embedded in what it means to be British,” said actress Helen Mirren last week. “One of the great contributions our country has made to the world is through theatre, through writing and performing.”
Other European nations have also offered support packages for their cultural sector with the Louvre in Paris, the most-visited museum in the world, opened its doors on Monday after almost four months of closure. The French government has committed €5 billion (US$5.6 billion) to its arts sector, while Germany has promised €1 billion. Both countries also include support for furloughed staff, while the UK package does not.
MU, the UK’s Musicians Union, believes those first to return to work could be London’s street buskers followed by open air concerts. But how soon this could happen has yet to be decided.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
