The Welsh Government will require organisations to commit to fair pay rates, but has not responded to calls for a universal basic income for creatives.
Artists and creatives stand on the brink of financial disaster following announcements that the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund will be ringfenced for organisations at imminent risk of failure.
Tough choices for Government spending are ahead, with departments being told to reprioritise, deliver savings and provide evidence they are delivering efficiently.
To future-proof the creative sector we must root out systemic funding bias against BAME organisations, says Kevin Osborne, starting with an equitable sharing of the £1.57 billion bailout package.
Small theatres and companies are ideally placed to give their local communities a voice. But there will have to be new models of working, and funders will have to resist the strong pull to conserve the past, says Anthony Biggs.
A scathing new report says the Government’s inadequate response to the threat posed by Covid-19 risks undermining its own ‘levelling up’ goals and reversing decades of progress.
R&D funding for artists is hard to come by, but Hannah Grannemann and Amy Whitaker believe emerging artist-centric sources of finance will offer important new opportunities that could radically shift the economics.
If ACE only distributes the Government's support package to the organisations they have a current relationship with, then 80% of the sector will remain vulnerable and large scale venues as well as small will be at risk says Michael Ockwell.
Sector leaders have responded with a mixture of relief and gratitude for a Government package that will secure the medium-term future of many organisations on the brink of permanent closure, but others believe the announcement leaves many questions unanswered.
Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop has announced a Performing Arts Venues Relief Fund that will “meet the immediate needs” of organisations and freelance workers attempting to survive the ongoing impact of the pandemic.
Although museums and galleries in England and Scotland can prepare to reopen, the performing arts remain in lockdown and fears grow for the future of venue-based organisations.
Two-thirds of organisations and almost three quarters of individuals who applied to Arts Council England for emergency funds were successful, but 4,000 applicants were left disappointed.
Arts Council England is preparing to “make changes to Grantium where we can”, including an improved user interface, but the upgrade is currently on hold due to Coronavirus pressures.
Scotland appears to be the first country in the UK to make a direct Government loan to ensure a cultural organisation can survive the current financial crisis.
Furloughed arts employees across the country are being warned of job losses as the next stage of the furlough scheme is deemed “not fit for purpose for the theatre industry”.
