February 2021
Research and Policy Brief
We bring you:
- new responses to the effects of Covid
- evidence of creativity as a driver of health and wellbeing
- action on creative local growth
- the latest figures on craft participation in England
Responding to the effects of Covid
Covid-19 and the Experience of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Entrepreneurs is based on 20 stories of the lives of creative entrepreneurs during Covid 19. The report points to the need to invest in regeneration and not just recovery of the sector as it was. “This is not a time for self-preservation by the gatekeepers of our current system … [but] to cultivate something new.”
A debate in House of Lords on Covid-19: Performing Arts Freelance Workers discussed the needs of the 100,000 freelancers in the creative industries who fall outside the Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). Lord Black of Brentwood expressed concern about new graduate recruits, skilled freelancers leaving the arts and the waste of talent of newly trained young people - the performers, technicians, craftspeople and teachers of the future.
#ArtIsEssential is a new campaign of artists, institutions, galleries and sector support organisations to raise awareness of the visual arts. It seeks engagement from Government, in particular in shaping and re-directing policies in relation to the arts.
Voluntary Arts’ third large-scale survey of creative participation across the UK and the Republic of Ireland demonstrates the resilience of everyday creativity in difficult times:
● Despite the extreme difficulties caused by the pandemic, voluntary creative groups remain optimistic and resilient
● The amount of time people contribute to creative groups has increased during 2020
● Taking part in creativity is hugely important for wellbeing and social connection.
The Centre for Cultural Value is researching Covid-19: the impacts on the cultural sector and implications for policy and has submitted findings on the cultural sector’s workforce to the Treasury Committee inquiry on the economic impact of coronavirus. Around half of the cultural sector are self-employed. There has been a collapse in working hours and an increase in the number of people leaving creative occupations in 2020 (15%) compared to previous years. This article shows how we should be especially worried about younger workers.
New findings from the Creative Industries Federation show that creative freelancers, microbusinesses and those dependent on audiences are seeing the biggest financial hit as a result of the pandemic. Since the start of the pandemic, 63% of respondents have seen their turnover decrease by more than half, with creative freelancers experiencing the biggest drop in revenue. Creative industries outside of London are hit particularly hard, with those outside the capital more likely to see bigger turnover decreases and least likely to be able to monetise digital content.
NEMO, the European museums organisation has gathered information about museum re-openings and closures from 31 European countries, listing details about re-openings, political and sector communication as well as hygiene measures.
The Creative Doodle Book Project is a new resource created during lockdown to support learning-disabled artists with a series of playful tasks and activities that encourage creativity, thought, and reflection.
The Government has appointed Sir Kevan Collins as an Education Commissioner to oversee a comprehensive programme of catch-up for England’s pupils. This week, the Crafts Council, NSEAD and the Design and Technology Association (DATA) have written to Collins, offering our support to ensure that making and creative activity are at the heart of any programme.
We know that pupils of all ages have had extremely reduced access to the specialist materials, equipment, spaces and provision necessary for them to access art, craft and design education. Children and young people in households with limited space and income have been particularly disadvantaged. The benefits of engaging in practical, creative making activity are well documented. Education in this area is vital to develop industry specific skills, but also promote good mental health and well-being, and a wide range of vital transferable skills. We know the power of non- verbal activity - thinking, expressing, feeling, reacting - and the unique contribution of art, craft and design education. Children and young people need this activity like never before.
The Crafts Council, NSEAD and DATA are committed to working with the DFE and school stakeholders to find creative ways forward.
Creativity as a driver of health and wellbeing
The National Centre for Creative Health has been formed in response to the Creative Health report, the result of a two-year inquiry led by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing. Alongside testimonies from, for example, Grayson Perry and Moira Sinclair, the report shows how the creative process helps increase wellbeing. It highlights the benefits to practice of mindfulness and networking.
New research into Men’s Sheds in Scotland identifies sustainability challenges that affect the ability of Sheds to become a formal healthcare service. This paper looks at policy implications and recommendations, taking into consideration tensions between the expectations placed on Sheds to expand into formal healthcare delivery, and the needs of Sheds to remain informal and flexible.
How culture contributes to the economy
The latest DCMS Economic Estimates show that culture adds £34.6bn to UK economy. The Creative Industries contributed £113.6bn in 2019, an increase of 5.6 per cent from 2018. (Note that the Crafts Council continues to point out that the figures do not represent the full breadth of the craft sector’s contribution.)
DCMS has created economic guidelines for valuing capital assets in culture that it says will guide future funding decisions. The research is based on the Treasury's model of social cost benefit analysis.
Visual Arts: The Beating Heart and Soul of Building Back Better reports on entrepreneurship and diversity in the UK. It examines the profound effects that ethnic and economic background, gender and place have on entrepreneurial opportunities and outcomes. Contemporary Visual Arts Network (CVAN) along with the UK think-tank Policy Connect, and the All-Party-Parliamentary-Group for Design & Innovation make five recommendations: to establish a visual arts baseline, to set social and economic growth targets at a national and local level, to extend and simplify tax incentives to support growth, to remove barriers to talent from abroad, and to strengthen networks to deliver social inclusion and diversity.
Action on creative local growth
Make It in Brixton is a campaign to promote Lambeth’s new Creative Enterprise Zone, supporting the local creative community. The Creative Enterprise Zones scheme was set up by the Mayor of London to help local boroughs to become or remain creative hubs.
Arts Council England has published an independent evaluation of the Creative Local Growth Fund, which supported initiatives designed to help culture contribute to local economic growth. The case studies range from Creative Fuse North East to Cultivator Cornwall - useful resources for business creation and networking.
Fuelling Creative Renewal, a new report from the City of London, sets out a blueprint for a deeper relationship between the creative and business sectors to accelerate London’s recovery from the pandemic. Recommendations include repurposing space and the creation of a creative freelancers’ network.
Craft participation
The latest craft participation data is shown in the charts below. Each year we ask DCMS to publish craft specific data tables, extracted from the adult Taking Part survey, a nationally representative household survey.
The data show a slight decrease in participation in each demographic group between 2018/19 and 2019/20 but in fact the numbers are too small to be significant. It’s also worth noting that since 17/18 DCMS has included a more detailed breakdown of participation by ethnicity.
