The COVID-19 pandemic has had a catastrophic impact on London’s creative industries and left many in danger of disappearing. With varying public health restrictions having been in place for a whole year, cultural venues have been unable to fully open, leaving question marks about whether they will survive at all. As restrictions are eased, we must ensure these venues continue to get the help they need to get back on their feet.
Before the pandemic, the industry accounted for one in six jobs in London and was worth £52bn a year to London’s economy. Alongside the economic benefits, it makes the fabric of our city richer, improves social integration and Londoners’ mental health and wellbeing.
London’s cultural industries extend far beyond London’s theatres, museums and music venues.
Those working in community outreach schemes undertake school visits and sessions in care homes, providing opportunities for people to experience culture by bringing it directly to them. The capital’s unique ecosystem of cultural and creative industries means our world-leading cultural institutions have a symbiotic relationship with grassroots outreach programmes.
Culture should be viewed as a fundamental public good as opposed to a nice-to-have. After several months of uncertainty, the Government committed £1.6bn UK-wide to prop up the creative industries via a bidding process in July 2020. This has allowed some to tide over the immediate crisis, with a further £300m being promised in the recent Budget. This funding will provide a short-term lifeline to a struggling industry, but the absence of Government-backed insurance plans for music venues and festivals was a concerning omission which will threaten the viability of larger scale events in the summer if they would otherwise be able to go ahead.
Getting the right policy measures in place to help the cultural economy beyond the immediate financial crisis is vital. These industries are essential to London’s economic recovery and can help to revitalise domestic tourism as people from across the UK come to the capital’s leading attractions.
Despite the challenges of COVID-19, the sector has showcased its resilience and ingenuity by finding ways to adapt. From streaming shows online (most notably by the National Theatre) and working around the public health measures, such as social distancing, to continue filming TV shows, they have been remarkably flexible. But the reality is that large parts of the sector, such as music venues and nightclubs, haven’t been able to operate at all.
In London, the Mayor has stepped up and has been helping our cultural sector. His £2.3m Culture at Risk Business Support Fund has provided 122 grants to workspaces, LGBTQ+ venues, grassroots music venues and independent cinemas across London. Much-loved local institutions like the ArtHouse Crouch End cinema have been supported alongside artists workspaces like Building BloQs in Enfield.
Alongside this, the Mayor has launched a £750,000 Community Spaces at Risk Fund which works with communities to protect grassroots cultural centres and social clubs. City Hall has also provided £9m to the London Community Response fund which has offered grant funding of up to £50k for community focused arts and culture, voluntary and civic organisations. All of this has helped keep some of the capital’s community assets, small music venues, LGBT+ space and independent cinemas keep afloat during the past year.
Just last week, the Mayor announced £500k of increased funding for his Culture at Risk and Culture and Community Spaces programmes. Furthermore, a number of the Mayor’s existing schemes have also pivoted to focus on London’s recovery from the Covid-19 crisis and will bring wider benefits for London’s cultural and creative industry. For example, the £5m investment in the safe reopening of central London has been supported by UK Hospitality and the New West End Company and will provide the foundations to attract visitors back to central London’s cultural attractions.
But our cultural and creative industries are so much more than the glamour of the West End. Schemes such as the Young Londoners Fund have supported local groups to bring music, film and theatre activities to young people at risk of social exclusion in their local area.
The pandemic is also having a huge impact on the people that work in the creative industries. A large number have been furloughed, but many others who are freelancers have not been covered by the scheme. Many of these freelancers are also missing out on the self-employment income support scheme and form part of the “3 million excluded”.
This group, which includes self-employed people across a range of other sectors, represents a tenth of the UK workforce. Despite the Chancellor pledging support for 600,000 of those in the Budget, it still leaves many people without financial help for a full year- forcing many more working in the creative sector to consider abandoning their craft altogether.
At a DCMS Select Committee meeting in June 2020, the Musicians’ Union reported that a fifth of their members were thinking of leaving the creative industries altogether. This appears to have come to pass as figures from the ONS show 15% of people left the sector last year.
Sadiq Khan has come together with Mayors from across England to lobby the Government to improve and extend support schemes so that nobody falls through the gaps in the financial safety net.
The recovery from the pandemic must ensure that our creative industries are given the tools they need to rebuild. Culture is an essential ingredient in making London the city is it and is what makes us stand out from other capitals. From the West End to local community spaces we need to protect such a vital industry. If we fail, the next generation of actors, musicians and artists won’t be able to support themselves and will leave the creative industries altogether.