Release from the House of Lords Press Office:
Peers voice fears for COVID-19’s “acute impact” on performing arts
Creative industries likely to be one of the last sectors to fully reopen
Government should consider extending support for self-employed
Government should boost support for under-represented groups and arts education
A group of Peers has asked ministers to consider further steps to support and protect creative industries from the “acute impact” of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The House of Lords Communications and Digital Select Committee has written to Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden to ask what more the government will do to ease the economic impact of prolonged closures and to enable the safe return of employees.
The Committee believes that current Government advice to avoid large gatherings or those in smaller public spaces but to return to work if unable to work from home is “difficult to apply in the context of the creative industries”.
Lord Gilbert of Panteg, Chair of the Committee, said in a letter to the Culture Secretary:
“The performing arts, museums and galleries, and TV and film production all require groups of people in close proximity. At the same time, they largely require ‘in person’ attendance by workers and performers.
“Consequently, the creative industries will likely be one of the last sectors able to reopen fully.”
The Committee is concerned too that the new Cultural Renewal Taskforce aimed at helping to get the recreation and leisure sector up and running again may have “limited impact” without proper resources.
With seven in 10 artists and craftspeople who support the performing arts being self-employed, the Committee also wants the Government to consider extending its Self-Employment Income Support Scheme to include those with recent second jobs and those who have taken parental or adoption leave – as well as increasing the scheme’s cap and duration.
The Committee is concerned too that a prolonged pandemic may “emphasise” barriers to entering the performing arts for people from under-represented groups and damage arts education provision, affecting “the educational and emotional recovery of children, young people, teachers, parents, and carers.”
The letter is online here.