Location: London, UK
COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak
Lockdown
SIR – The creative industries are worth £111 billion to the UK economy each year. At their heart lie music and the performing arts, which face ruin as a result of Covid-19.
At a stroke venues and theatres, large and small, have closed their doors. Festivals and concerts have been cancelled, and all those individuals working in the sector, who are largely self-employed or on precarious contracts, have lost their livelihoods. As mass gatherings are likely to be the last events to be reintroduced after lockdown ends, this will be a devastating lost year for thousands of musicians and artists, and their families.
Last week, MPs and peers across all parties pressed the Government on the steps being taken to protect musicians, other artists and those running venues who are falling through the cracks and receiving no financial support during the crisis. The message was clear: they need help now.
Music and the arts help to define the kind of society we are. If we want them to survive this emergency, an urgent sector-specific package of financial support – similar to the €50 billion programme in Germany – is desperately needed. Without significant intervention of this sort, the cultural sector may be irreparably damaged by the time this crisis is over.
Theatre is probably going to be
one of the last type of venue to open and is going to struggle. The
Nuffield in Southampton has already gone into administration.
50
members of the House of Lords have signed a letter urging the government to
provide financial support to the performing arts industry. The letter is
below.
What I find incredibly sad
about this, is that there was virtually no reporting of this. At
all. Google it, you won’t find much.
I know that at a time of
economic uncertainty it will be low down the list of priorities of things and
people who need money. So, let me just ask you a question. During
lockdown, have you watched tv? A film? Read a book? Listened
to music? The artists which brought you that work need to be paid and
need support now and for the future so that the very entertainment that has
helped keep us all sane and talking and sharing stories during this time will
be there in the future.
The UK is a world leader in
performing arts and to retain the incredible cultural creative people that we
have, we need investment. So now is the time for our government to
recognise the value both culturally and monetarily that the performing arts
bring to us and to invest.
SIR – The creative industries are worth £111 billion to the UK economy each year. At their heart lie music and the performing arts, which face ruin as a result of Covid-19.
At a stroke venues and theatres, large and small, have closed their doors. Festivals and concerts have been cancelled, and all those individuals working in the sector, who are largely self-employed or on precarious contracts, have lost their livelihoods. As mass gatherings are likely to be the last events to be reintroduced after lockdown ends, this will be a devastating lost year for thousands of musicians and artists, and their families.
Last week, MPs and peers across all parties pressed the Government on the steps being taken to protect musicians, other artists and those running venues who are falling through the cracks and receiving no financial support during the crisis. The message was clear: they need help now.
Music and the arts help to define the kind of society we are. If we want them to survive this emergency, an urgent sector-specific package of financial support – similar to the €50 billion programme in Germany – is desperately needed. Without significant intervention of this sort, the cultural sector may be irreparably damaged by the time this crisis is over.
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