Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say, and this plague year has certainly proved that. Lockdown saw cultural organisations adapt and flourish despite trying circumstances. I just hope that now things seem to be getting back to normal, buildings are opening back up and people can gather again we don’t lose some of the brilliant things we’ve learned over the last year.
As someone with chronic illness, the flexibility to attend meetings, networking and cultural events remotely online has been an absolute gift. It has so many benefits for so many – from people in geographically isolated communities, d/Deaf people who benefitted from live captioning and transcription, people with mental health complaints who struggle to leave the house, people with lower expendable incomes who can’t afford travel/childcare etc… It’s endless. It was a real opportunity to move away from a metro-centric model and be more accommodating. While I know that we’re bound to see a drop-off in these kinds of events, I’d love if we could learn a little and be more flexible in future. If you’re hiring, why not open it up to remote working? If you need a meeting with a larger organisation, why not meet virtually instead of in person? And why not add more digital experiences and opportunities to engage remotely into your programme?
We also saw a huge rise in awareness for Freelance and part-time workers who were often overlooked before lockdown. I’ve been following the work of the amazing Freelancers Make Theatre Work and cheering at just about every one of their tweets and articles, as they are so spot-on. We also saw so much generosity and philanthropy for struggling artists of all stripes. We need to explore new ways of working that are sustainable and healthy for the industry, to prevent all our brighest stars from burning out early. We spend so much of our time scraping for project funding, working extra jobs to fund our passion and constantly hustling for the next payday. Arts and culture adds billions to the UK economy – more than agriculture or sport – and yet thrives on the back of underpaid and undervalued labour. How can we explore new ways to ensure that all cultural workers have the security they need to make their best work? I am fascinated to see how the pilot programme of Strike A Light’s Let Artists be Artists works out, as an exciting possible solution to this issue.
Overall, I am filled with a tentative optimism about the future. I’m proud of how we all adapted to the most challenging of circumstances over the last year or so, and know that whatever happens we will survive. Now let’s explore how we can learn and THRIVE.