This month we focus on
- Tackling racism,
- Championing freelancers, sole traders and microbusinesses and
- Tackling the impact of the pandemic.
Tacking racism
Inc Arts Unlock is an anti-racism toolkit for arts and culture organisations to build and monitor their own anti-racism action plans, tracking progress against over 100 anti-racist actions. And Sour Lemons has developed Big Squeeze, a leadership partnership programme to dismantle systemic racism within specific organisations.
Championing freelancers, sole traders and microbusinesses
Future Freelance Champions, brought together by the Creative Industries Federation, will give a profile to the diversity and needs of creative freelancers and entrepreneurs (including sole traders and microbusinesses). They will help shape and drive systemic change. Sarah Munro, Baltic Director and CVAN chair, will champion freelancers in visual arts.
Meanwhile Cultural Freelancers Wales is a new collective of cultural freelancers, which aims to strengthen the freelance voice and offer inclusive support to fellow freelancers. It engages in lobbying and policy work, offers support and resources for freelancers, offers development and well-being workshops and maps the freelance community.
Tackling the impact of the pandemic
A Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance report shows how creativity and culture have supported people in hospitals, care homes, hospices, prisons and other institutions through the pandemic. Recommendations include the need to support creative freelancers through the pandemic and its aftermath.
Unesco research shows that museums lost between 40% and 60% of their budgets in 2020 compared to 2019. "In regions where museums are largely funded by the market and philanthropy, such as the United States or United Kingdom, job losses have been rapid and particularly significant." Recommendations stress that public authorities must act to support museums financially and prepare for the future.
The Durham Commission on Creativity and Education has refocused its recommendations in the light of the pandemic and created platforms and opportunities for both schools and students to re-think teaching and learning. Findings in its second report show that creativity and cultural experiences should be an essential part of the return to in-school education. Shifts to remote working and digital tools mean digital skills and access to quality digital devices are now essential for young people.
The Situation of Artists and Cultural Workers and the post-COVID-19 Cultural Recovery in the European Union, a report for the European Parliament by Dr Mafalda Dâmaso of King’s College, London, gives an overview of the working conditions of artists and cultural workers across Europe. It highlights the precarity of artists and the lack of unified policy support for their status.
Arts Council England has published the themes and context for its Let’s Create Delivery Plan. These are intended to focus on areas in most pressing need of attention and investment following the pandemic. Given the damage to the livelihoods of creative practitioners and other freelancers in the cultural sector, ACE will pay particular attention over the next three years to supporting those seeking to start a career in the arts.
A report from Enders Analysis shows that the UK's creative industries engage more enterprises and employees than any part of the UK economy, except financial services. But it argues that job losses risk becoming permanent.
Two-thirds of online audiences were new to viewing art forms digitally during COVID, according to research by Marquee TV and Indigo.
