Family and friends are helping artists to make ends meet as their incomes – and those of the organisations that contract them – start to plummet.
William Murphy (CC BY-SA 2.0)
The nature and severity of the impact facing the sector due to the coronavirus pandemic is laid bare in the findings from a survey among arts organisations and artists in Northern Ireland.
On a scale from 1 (not severe) to 5 (very severe), arts organisations scored the financial impact of the crisis at 4.15 – marginally lower than the 4.33 average rating given by artists.
The research, commissioned by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, took place towards the start of the lockdown, between 26th March and 10th April. For the 108 organisations that responded to the survey, the anticipated income loss over the period from March to May was expected to total £3.97m – an average of nearly £37k per organisation – with larger organisations and those dependent on box office takings bearing the brunt of the financial losses.
Among the 152 artists who responded, the average loss of earnings was estimated to be £3,756. Some were already seeking financial help from family and friends to make ends meet. In a minority of cases, contracts for cancelled work had been honoured by arts organisations, but most were being terminated and no recruitment of artists is taking place.
The immediate and direct impact of the pandemic on the work of the sector, its participants and audiences is also a huge cause for concern.
Several respondents articulated the impact of stopping engagement with vulnerable groups, including older people with dementia and young people with poor mental health, who have had to be distanced. Artists see this as undermining their relationships and compromising their ability to work in inter- and intra-community contexts, including peace-building work.
Respondents also spoke of the longer-term impact of the lockdown on audience’s willingness to engage with the arts, and the disproportionate impact reduced outreach will have on deprived communities. There are concerns that the pandemic will push people further away from live theatre and live events.
One respondent said: “The audiences will lose their connection and engagement with the work and the organisations, and it will be much harder to bring them back in the galleries and the theatres”. Another commented on the loss outreach work, which “will be cancelled and the less privileged will be hit by this. Art and creativity are essential during difficult times, but it is the first thing that gets overlooked and lost.”
 |