News

Artist studios across the capital are to benefit from £1.6m of emergency funding from the Mayor’s Culture at Risk Business Support Fund. 82 artist studios across 18 London boroughs will receive support from the fund, and will in turn be able to continue supporting a community of 11,500 creatives practitioners.

The fund for creative workspaces, which includes an investment from Bloomberg Philanthropies, is delivered by the Creative Land Trust and designed to help studios the that are suffering the most from the near shut-down of the culture and creative industries. 80 per cent of those receiving funding are led by women, people from a BAME background, the LGBTQ+ community or people with disabilities.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “The devastating impact of COVID-19 means London’s unparalleled culture and creative industries need our support now, more than ever. These artists make a significant contribution to our economy and life in our capital, but they have seen their income diminished by the near total shutdown of their industries. I’m delighted that through our Fund we are helping to ensure that thousands of our talented artists still have a place to work, so that they can play their part in our city’s recovery.”
 

Executive and administrative assistants in the cultural sector are a vital but overlooked section of the workforce, according to researchers at the University of Oxford.

Their report Supporting Leadership calls for action from the sector to ensure the expertise of support staff can be recognised and working practices improved for the benefit of all.     

Contributions from staff at more than 60 UK museums, libraries, heritage sites, and arts and performance organisations reveals the importance of support roles in enabling and facilitating dynamic cultural sector leadership. But the often ‘invisible’ work that goes on behind-the-scenes means there is a danger that this work isn’t appropriately valued.

Some support staff describe their contribution as ‘invisible’, they are ‘seen as unskilled’ and their roles can be ‘a dumping ground’. Consequently there is a high rate of turnover among support staff, with only 31% of administrators in the cultural sector seeing their roles as a long-term commitment (of more than three years). A lack of professional recognition drives the discontent, with certain roles seen as more important than others.

The report makes recommendations for greater clarity in defining assistant roles, for raising awareness of administrative work across institutions, and for creating a culture where staff feel empowered to take ownership of their work. It provides practical advice for leaders and support staff with advice series of tools focusing on role descriptions, working environments, recruitment processes, and development pathways.

Surveys across a number of US cities have revealed that 59% of cultural organisations’ audiences have not watched any digital broadcasts or other digital content offered or recommended by the arts organisation they are connected with. These findings were despite most of the content being free of charge, and only 13% of respondents saying they weren’t aware of it.

The art form streamed most was music, with 52% of respondents saying they had viewed an orchestra’s digital content at least once.

When asked whether they would buy tickets to live-streamed programmes to watch at home if venues aren’t open, the average response was around or just below ‘somewhat likely’.

The data is drawn from hundreds of organisations participating in the Audience Outlook Monitor study, and Alan Brown of WolfBrown, which developed the study, said: “Bear in mind that people who respond to surveys tend to be the most loyal and committed audiences. So, the fact that a majority of them don’t engage with digital content at all, or aren’t aware of what’s being offered, strikes me as a little disconcerting… I encourage you to think creatively about what the live stream experience looks like, and how to position it as a distinctly different value-added experience, so that the live stream experience is not just seen as a poor man’s substitute for a live experience, but as a premium educational experience.”

Campaign group PiPA (Parents and Carers in Performing Arts) has found that workers with caring responsibilities are considering abandoning their careers in the sector due to uncertainty about job prospects. The group warns that the “loss of talent from the industry is a clear risk” and will “drive people to seek employment elsewhere”.

Theatre buildings across the UK have been lit up in red to draw attention to their plight - staff unable to return to work for the foreseable future, despite lock-down restrictions being lifted across many other sectors. Guildford's YvonneArnaud theatre tweeted: "We welcome the government's rescue package, & join venues & friends around the country tonight in the @LightItInRed campaign, to show that we can't wait to reopen as soon as we can. #LightitinRed"

Promoters plan to launch the UK's first socially distanced concert venue in Newcastle this summer.

SSD Concerts and production company Engine No 4 say Unity Arena will provide a "festival experience" with up to 2,500 attendees on 2-metre-spaced viewing platforms. Food and drinks will be available to pre-order and there will be a one-way system for using toilet facilities.

The venue will be located at Newcastle Racecourse, about 4 miles from the city centre.