The sector is “on its knees”, the Arts Council of Wales tells a Senedd committee, and invites the arts community to contribute to plans for “lasting and systemic change” post-lockdown.
Grassroots music venues, artist studio workspaces, independent cinemas and LGBTQ+ venues will share a fund that aims to catch those falling through the gaps in Government coronavirus support schemes.
The £90m emergency fund earmarked to support ACE’s National Portfolio Organisations and Creative People and Places consortia is no more than a drop in the ocean against the vast income streams they are losing as a result of the shutdown.
Leading representative bodies have set out their concerns for visual artists, telling the Chancellor of the Exchequer why coronavirus financial support systems are failing to support them and leaving the nation’s cultural life in jeopardy.
Desperate pleas from those who are losing their livelihoods have revealed the stress that Arts Council England’s grant application system – known to be dysfunctional since 2016 – has placed on them.
Artists have spoken out against an emergency funding formula that assumes a cultural ecosystem exists and will support artists through the current crisis.
When it's time to rebuild, the cultural sector will have to start owning up to failure if it is to learn from its previous mistakes. David Stevenson reports on a research project encouraging just that.
Urgent letters to the Chancellor of the Exchequer are already highlighting the plight of arts workers and businesses falling through the financial safety nets in place for employed and self-employed workers.
The Bromsgrove arts centre was returning to financial health following local authority cuts, but the coronavirus crisis has proved fatal for the organisation, which needs £10,000 a month to lie dormant.
Over the coming weeks, arts funders and philanthropists must make heart-rending decisions about who will survive. A coordinated approach to capitalising the sector is needed, says Alan Brown.
Audiences like to feel personally responsible for bringing about positive change, says Sean Hanly, so giving them the chance to consider options other than a ticket refund will generate goodwill and encourage them to return - once it’s safe to open the doors again.
Arts workers, unions and membership organisations react to UK-wide closures and the “unmanageable risks” presented by the lack of an enforced directive.
