FUTURE OF THE ARTS

STATS Creative industries employed 2.1m people – increase of 34 pc since 2011. Thuird of workforce
is self-employed. Growing at five times rate of economy as a whole, contributiong £12 bn to UK
economy.

Social distancing the very antithesis of the live arts, which is all about conviviality as well as
aesthetics or entertainment.

Return to normal

In educational fields, feeling that thngs have to change:

“Covid-19 is not just disruptive, it is eruptive,” Pam Burnard says. “It’s shaken everything we do.
There will be no return to normal.”

Put the buildings to work in different ways

COINCIDED WITH OTHER CRISES AND CHALLENGES:

Black Lives Matter/dECOLONISE

“We have to stop kicking cans down the road,” says Casely-Hayford. “There’s a mountain of cans
already. The benefits will be many: a more cohesive society, a wider pool of talent and greater
source of innovation from which to draw

What’s needed is an enlargement of the narrative in every art form, so that we increase our
awareness and hear a wider range of voices and understand the stories better of all those whose
forebears contributed to the strength of this country.”

b) Decarbonise the sector

“Localism and ‘small is beautiful’ is going to be reshaping the way the music industry does things,”
says the folksinger Sam Lee, a founding member of Music Declares Emergency.

“The challenge for the arts is no different to that faced by us all: how we balance the immediate
need to rescue our cultural life with the more urgent but less immediate need to decarbonise and
restore our ailing natural world,” says Alison Tickell, founder of Julie’s Bibcycle, a green campaigning
movement that is already working with Arts Council England to instiul environmental thinking into
arts organisations. “We should use current investment to re-think the arts along the lines of a Green
Deal for Culture. That would mean green jobs and skills, sustainable buildings and events, space for
nature, greener touring, sustainable food, repurposing and recycling productions and sets,  online
events, and connecting arts and artists to communities in ways that celebrate the world around us.”

C) Collapse of conventional record/TV/film industry. Streaming generates so little income for some.
Huge profits for orgs. Hard to break into on a massive scale. Online websites do replace gallery
recognition in visual arts to a large extent though. Have arts orgs missed the bandwagon or are they
simply giving away too much stuff for nothing? Gelb quote?

Streaming

“Art should disrupt, think differently, do things differently. Just look at what’s being done on line
now.  We’ve seen artists finding new ways of connecting from the ground up,” says Pam Burnard.

“Video gaming can play a huge part in creative education. It’s reconceptualising childhood.

“Streaming has been a fantastic way for theatres to continue to engage with audiences during
lockdown.,” says Jon Morgan. “No doubt more theatres than before will explore offering work
online, but having offered so much product for free, the challenge will be to persuade people to
pay. “

“Our digital programme has, like many, expanded a lot during the pandemic,” says Reekie. “A talk
that would have had 100 people attending can now reach several thousand round the world.
“However, it’s very hard to generate income from it.”

“The propensity of our audiences to consume digitally has informed us that a live theatre and digital
hybrid could hgelp us to bridge the gap until we are fully functioning as a theatre again,” says Casely-
Hayford.

CHANGE IN DYNAMIC AND SCOPE OF PUBLIC SUBSIDY

“It’s paradoxical that the sector has been encouraged to be more self-sufficient but it’s the
organisations that have been best at it that are now the ones in biggest trouble.”

ISSUE OF FREELANCERS LEAVING THE INDUSTRY.

“The government rescue package does not appear to offer any direct replacement to support
freelancers,” says Jon Morgan.

Some more optimistic “The pandemic has given an opportunity to reset the dial and examine how
the arts can organise structural change to enable freelancers to work in an economically healthier
structure.”

PERFORMANCE ORGS AND VENUES LOST

“We will undoubtedly lose some theatres and other producing organisations,” says Jon Morgan of
the Theatres Trust. “The government rescue package is generous but it is stretched across all culture
and heritage organisations so there will be winners and losers.  Theatres still do not have even an
indicative date of when they can reopen fully and with the furlough scheme ending in October many
will run out of reserves at some point this financial year.” He wants a scheme whereby theatres at
risk of going under are held “in trust” to stop them being seized by opportunistic redevelopers.  

Live. Performances recovery chances

Outdoor perfs allowed, but indoor still banned. Test events with indoor pers at Palladium, LSO at St
Luke’s and Butlin’s holiday camps.

But Jon Morgan says many institutions will elect to “mothball” indefinitely rather than reopen with
social-distancing that cn’t work economically. “But that does not mean they will or should be
completely inactive,” he says.  “Many will choose to reopen parts of their building to do workshops
and to offer communal spaces for formal and informal social groups and many will find creative ways
to put on shows with social distancing, including outdoors, site-specific, and immersive. “

Pooling of back-of-house facilites

“There is an opportunity for the sector to finds ways to pool resources and purchasing power to
access better services,” wrote Alice Black, the former co-director of the Design Museum, in a recent
article. “Could we see mergers and acquisitions in the sector?”

Outdoor pers can’t just happen overnight. Open Air Theatre at Regent’s Park may be able to open
for a short summer season later, Shakespeare’s Globe will stay closed it seems,

“Sadly it is just not economically viable for the Globe to open with socially distanced performances,”
says Margaret Casely-Hayford, the chair of Shakespeare’s Globe. “We hope to share our theatres in
other ways to help improve audience confidence but cannot open at scale at this time within social
distancing guidelines. After that,m in the short term focus has to be on, for example, having single
act performances to avoid the need for opening up of toilets.”
DISTRIBUTING THE £1.57 BILLION A SOURCE OF SQUABBLING, feeling that Dowden’s “crown jewels”
quote (what they?) is ominous. .

“Distributing the money will be challenging,” says Jonathan Reekie, the director of one of London’s
leading arts hubs, Somerset House Trust. “The money should be handed out based solely on an
assessment of future potential not past achievements.”

WILL IT Change the demographics?

Older audiences less likely to return first. BUT NOT JUST AGE! Reekie says that “people who enjoy
contemporary culture are less risk averse”.

WEST END THEATRES PARTICULARLY ANGRY AT GVMT. Cam Mack quote from earlier. “We’re
responsible for 80 per cent of the box office revenues across the entire theatre industry,” said one
top West End producer who didn’t want to be named. “And we are we are by far the biggest
employer of the freelance community. Yet we are about to be overlooked. We can’t come back
without support and without insurance underwritten. And what’s the point of saving all the regional
touring theatres if there’s no work generated by the West End to put in them?”

Full recovery will be impossible for as long as the current social-distancing remains in place,” says
Chi-chi Nwanoku. “However, to answer a different question: if social-distancing is lifted completely,
then recovery could happen quite quickly; in a matter of 3 to 6 months.”

DRIVE THROUGH

Education

The notion of children “catching up on key subjects” at the expense of arts and music is
“horrendous”, says Pam Burchard. “”It’s so old-school, these rigid silo-ing of subjects. Look at
Leonardo da Vinci. He was a designer, an engineer, an inventor, and artist and a pioneer of
understanding the human body. Go down the root to a narrow curriculum and you can prepare for a
mass of demotivated, disengaged young people leaving education. The limiting of young people’s life
choices is criminal.”
“Boris comes from a class that can pay for what their children don’t get at school. There are millions
who can’t get that humanising effect that the arts give. Nor do they sometimes have access to the
technology that enables them to create music and art in their homes.”

Amateurs still excluded – two million people not singing, and brass and wiond bands too.

Soundbite answers

Alison Tickell, founder and CEO of Julie’s Bicycle.

What do you think the biggest challenge to the arts in Britain is?

The lockdown has been a huge shock to the arts ecosystym. While it is tempting to return to
business as usual as rapidly as possible, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build for the
decades to come.

What is the biggest opportunity for positive change.

This is a time to think how we come out o0f this pandemic healthier, greener and fairer – and that
applies to the arts as well.

Jon Morgan, director of The Theatres Trust

  a) What is the biggest challenge now facing the arts?

Sustaining the smaller, grassroots theatres which sit at the heart of communities and where new
talent is nurtured.

   b) What is the biggest opportunity for positive change?

There is an opportunity to reimagine our theatres as inclusive, civic spaces for and with all of the
community.

Jonathan Reekie, director Somerset House

 a) What is the biggest challenge now facing the arts?

The loss our ability to take artistic risks

   b) What is the biggest opportunity for positive change?

People everywhere are uncertain about the way forward for society. The arts can take the lead.  

Margaret Casely-Hayford, chair, Shakespeare’s Globe

a) What is the biggest challenge now facing the arts?

Survival!

   b) What is the biggest opportunity for positive change?

We shouldn’t let a narrow interpretation of history define and exclude.We must listen and respond
to a wider group of people, especially those who don’t ordinarily participate in mainstream
conversations.