UK at risk of ‘serious loss of writing talent’, union warns

15 Nov 2022

Rising energy and food costs are severely impacting the viability of writing as a career, a new survey has found.

The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) surveyed more than 250 writers, among whom 55% cited the cost of living as “impacting on their ability to sustain a writing career, severely impacting livelihoods and the cultural industries which depend upon their skills”.

Writers across TV, film, theatre, audio, books and videogames responded to the survey, with 67% stating that they had to rely on savings in order to manage day-to-day expenditure and 37% saying they were forced to rely on their partners’ earnings.

More than 70% of those surveyed had earned £18,000 or less for their writing work in the last financial year.

Over 80% described themselves as freelance writers, highlighting the precarious nature of self-employment for the screenwriters, playwrights, authors, audio dramatists and videogames writers represented by the union.

“The UK faces a [serious] loss of writing talent and this risks pulling the rug from under our world-beating cultural industries, which contribute over £100bn to our economy and enjoy an enviable global profile,” said Ellie Peers, WGGB General Secretary.

“We will be working with our industry partners to address the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on writers, we will continue to campaign and lobby and we will defend our members against poor practice wherever we find it.” 

Problems reported by survey respondents including having less time to work as a writer or apply for funding and development schemes, an industry-wide dearth of opportunity, real wages failing to keep pace with inflation, late payments, shrinking production budgets and reduced audience sizes. 

Many also expressed anxiety about how the cost-of-living crisis would affect the creative industries, fearing that shrinking demand might force organisations to close.
 

ACE hands audience data contract to consultancy firm PwC

10 Nov 2022

Arts Council England drops arts and culture research specialists The Audience Agency from sector support role, handing new contract for data insights to global consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Survey aims to identify key priorities for creative freelancers

10 Nov 2022

A new survey has been launched as part of efforts to improve conditions for creative freelancers.

The Redesigning Freelancing survey has been launched by creative industries network Creative UK working in partnership with nine combined local authorities in England.

Creative UK hopes to gather information that will help it address issues such as the economic uncertainty that comes with freelancing.

Caroline Norbury, CEO of Creative UK said that current difficulties “means we risk losing the next generation of creative freelancers – particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds”.

She added: “It is our collective responsibility to ensure more is done to protect our freelancers, integrate them with organisations in order to build better partnerships, and make sure there is a fair and equal playing field.

“This survey will help us to identify the key priorities that need action now.”

The survey can be completed here.  

Digital skills fund opens in Northern Ireland

12 Oct 2022

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland has opened a funding programme that aims to give arts organisations the skills to create digital art.

The Organisations Digital Evolution Awards offers grants of up to £10,000 for those making digital art for the first time, or working with digital or immersive technology they have not previously used.

The scheme will support a range of digital activity including: app development, virtual or augmented reality works, 3D rendering and printing, and the translation of digital data into artworks.

Collaborative applications from organisations working together in cross-discipline projects are encouraged. Funded by the National Lottery, the total fund is worth £40,000.

Roisin McDonough, Chief Executive, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, said: “This programme reflects the Arts Council’s commitment to encouraging innovative practices that cross artform boundaries and build digital capabilities within the Northern Ireland arts sector.”   

The scheme has opened to online applications and closes at midday on Monday 14 November.

AHRC to invest £100m in future technologies drive

20 Sep 2022

Funding will be used to establish a national studio for advanced technologies to drive developments in live theatre, music and visual art.

Ordering off-menu: skills to serve omnivorous audiences

Photo of people eating at restaurant
08 Sep 2022

We need to hone our skills in human-centred design, over and above those in tech or data, to make the most of post-pandemic digital/live appetites, argues Anne Torreggiani.

Britons say music 'vital to mental health'

24 Aug 2022

More than 85% of British people believe music is an important part of maintaining positive mental health, a survey has found.

The survey, conducted by the app FREE NOW also found that two thirds of those polled see local grassroots music venues as a vital part of the cultural make-up of their hometowns.

Half the people surveyed said that music was a reason for their closest friendships and almost 84% said they had at some point been moved to tears by music.

Music was also seen as a key component of many people’s romantic relationships. Almost a third of respondents said that they had met their partners though a connection with music and 38% knew what song they wanted to play for the first dance at their weddings before even meeting their partners.

“The importance of music was never in doubt but it’s great to see confirmation of just how vital it is to people’s daily lives”, said Mariusz Zabrocki, General Manager of FREE NOW.

“We know more than most that live music has had an incredibly rough few years with the pandemic and incoming cost of living crisis.”

The app is set to partner with the Music Venue Trust for 120 gigs aimed at supporting struggling music venues across the UK in the next year.

“The grassroots music sector is facing incredibly tough times with the energy crisis and the cost of living challenges compounding the impacts of the pandemic,” said the trust’s CEO Mark Davyd.

“This survey demonstrates again how important these venues are and how much it matters to people, and it’s great to see companies like FREE NOW recognising that value with direct action campaigns bringing more music opportunities to more people.”

Economic value of museums and galleries on the rise

The interior of the National Gallery
23 Aug 2022

Latest government figures show the value to the economy of museums and galleries has rebounded to near pre-pandemic levels.

ICO 'taking no action' on arts data breach

outside of the Royal Academy of Arts
04 Aug 2022

Data watchdog decides regulatory action not required after arts organisations notify it of ransomware attack that resulted in customer's names and email addresses being stolen.

British music exports hit record high

an audience watches a gig
26 Jul 2022

Data from the British Phonographic Industry reveals consumption of British music increased in every region globally in 2021.

Exclusive: Major arts organisations affected by ransomware data breach

19 Jul 2022

Southbank Centre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Opera House and The Old Vic among many UK arts organisations affected by huge data breach.

Performing arts programme 'could provide £3.3bn boost for economy'

Children jumping
04 Jul 2022

Study finds that every £1 spent on a primary school performing arts programme generates up to £32 in long-term socioeconomic returns.

Diverse-led organisations fared worst in cultural recovery support

Performance of the Indonesian cultural dance Pakarena
30 Jun 2022

Arts organisations led by Black, Asian or other ethnically diverse groups were least successful in obtaining financial support from the government’s Culture Recovery Fund, according to ACE’s new diversity data report. 

DCMS study moots major new data platform

25 May 2022

Report recommends new cultural sector data platform to help make the case for increased funding across the arts.

Evidence Centre to provide theatre sector analysis 

24 May 2022

Society of London Theatre (SOLT) and UK Theatre, two of Britain's leading industry membership associations, have announced a partnership with data and insight specialists Baker Richards to develop an Evidence Centre that will provide analysis of the theatre sector.

The centre will use the latest technology to gather data from multiple sources, including automatically extracted ticket transactions, data on demographics and infrastructure, as well as attitudinal survey data and open government data.

It will allow SOLT and UK Theatre to identify trends in sales and audiences, evaluate theatre's economic impact, classify workforce data and demographics and present in-depth analysis that contributes to demonstrating the value of theatre to national and local government. 

“Over nearly two decades, Baker Richards has developed a rich understanding of the UK’s ever-changing theatre industry, promoting and creating measures and metrics which have been widely adopted,” said Robin Cantrill-Fenwick, Chief Executive of Baker Richards. 

For the new Evidence Centre, analysts will use innovative approaches including experimentation with machine learning and AI. The first iteration of the data tool is scheduled to be ready for use at the end of the year. 

President of SOLT Eleanor Lloyd said the new centre will be “a fantastic resource for our members to access”, facilitating “more sophisticated data and business intelligence, to assist our members with their marketing campaign planning and budgeting”.

Stephanie Sirr, UK Theatre President, said that while making the case for government support of the theatre sector during the pandemic, they had identified “some gaps in what we evaluate in order to make a well-rounded and informed case for theatre in a way that corresponds with government evaluation tools”.

“This new Evidence Centre will give us access to sales and economic data at a deeper level, which will help our members make the strongest argument yet for supporting UK theatres as key strategic partners in their many communities,” she said.

Comparing apples to oranges

image of a light bulb
17 May 2022

Arts organisations increasingly use data to inform their decision making. But, argue David Johnson and Sarah Thelwall, if it’s not relevant, it risks being distracting, or even misleading.

Audit highlights UK's 'world-leading' art and music research

13 May 2022

Results from the assessment will determine the allocation of around £2bn in annual government funding.

How dynamic are you?

11 May 2022

What we used to think of as ‘contingency planning’ is now just planning, says Patrick Towell. That is what it means to be ‘dynamic’.

Heritage sector ‘confident about future'

Barnard Castle in County Durham
09 May 2022

Survey finds positivity among organisations across Britain and confidence to weather possible future waves of Covid-19.

'No clear reason' why people don't access digital arts

27 Apr 2022

Most people struggle to identify a specific reason why they don’t engage with arts online, a government survey has found.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport's Participation Survey which provides estimates of physical and digital engagement with the arts, heritage, museums and galleries, found that around one in four (27%) people had engaged with art digitally over the past year.

Of those who hadn't, when asked about the barriers they face, 45% said there was "no reason in particular", with 29% saying they were "not interested", and 11% saying they "don't have the time".

Other barriers to digital engagement included having a health problem or disability (8%), it being too expensive (8%), having no access to internet (5%) or "not knowing what is available" (3%).

The study found a negative correlation between digital engagement in the arts and areas of deprivation. The most deprived areas showed 20% engagement in the arts, compared with 31% in the least deprived areas.

Meanwhile, 32% of those in higher managerial, administrative and professional occupations engaged digitally in the arts, compared with 23% of respondents in intermediate occupations and 17% in routine and manual occupations.

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