Research

The cultural sector has suffered a 60% drop in economic output over the past 18 months, a University of Sheffield study reveals.

Restrictions led to 55% of sector jobs being furloughed - well above the national average of 16% - and more than 80,000 arts professionals applied to the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS).

This amounts to 68% of eligible freelancers in the UK.

Professor Vanessa Toulmin said the study highlights the "catastrophic effect" of the lockdowns on arts workers' finances, job security and wellbeing.

"People in the sector have been losing sleep and have had much higher levels of anxiety."

Manchester Museum staff will be trained as social justice researchers for a pilot addressing understanding of poverty and disadvantage.

Led by University of Manchester researchers, Local Matters will explore local and national poverty and use its findings to influence museum practice and policy.

“Too often policy makers and practitioners see poverty as having a simple beginning, middle and end. It is viewed as something that can be fixed if we all just 'do better,'” research fellow Carl Emery explained.

The museum will then make decisions with social justice, poverty and disadvantage in mind, according to Director Esme Ward.

Manchester Museum is currently closed whilst work on the final phase of its £13.5m restoration is completed. It is expected to reopen next year.

The night-time cultural economy has lost 86,000 jobs due to Covid-19, 15,000 of them in culture and arts events.

Defined as a third party providing events, the night-time cultural economy has suffered more than the wider night-time economy and the out-of-home leisure economy as a whole.

A new report from the Night Time Industries Association says the culture and arts subsector - museums, galleries, theatres, music venues and cinemas - had grown faster than other parts of the night time cultural economy, accounting for nearly 200,000 jobs in 2019.

However, it lost £36bn in trade over the 18 months to June - more than 100% of its pre-pandemic value.

This section of the economy contributes 1.64% of GDP, "but also to the health, well-being and sangfroid of the population as a whole," the report says.

"It is felt quite strongly that the night time cultural economy bats much higher than just its economic contribution."

Female performing arts graduates' earnings outstrip their male counterparts' after five years.

The average salary for a female performing arts graduate is £21,900, rising from £14,200 in the first year after finishing their studies.

Whilst men earning more in the initial stage of their careers with an average salary of £14,300 in their first year, women earn more on average three years in - £18,300 compared to £17,500.

The opposite is true of creative arts and design graduates: females earn less than males from the get go - £16,400 on average compared to £16,800 in their first year working.

The gap grows with time, with men earning £23,400 on average after five years, £1,900 more than female creative arts graduates.

Creative arts, where 60% of graduates are women, provides the lowest financial returns of any course of study, analysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) shows.

Xiaowei Xu, a Senior Research Economist at IFS, said women disproportionately chose subject with lower-paying career options.

"Of course, money isn’t – and shouldn’t be – the only factor when it comes to choosing what to study. But more needs to be done to inform young people about the financial consequences of degree choices, and to overcome gender stereotypes, so that women are not locked out of high-paying careers by choices at a young age.”