We will rescue the arts world from its worst ever week
Theatres, galleries and film sets have closed. But, says Rupert Christiansen, culture will rise to the challenge
Now is a time when the arts should be shining like a beacon. Let’s not be embarrassed to say that they remind us of beauty and eternal truths, of the light at the end of the tunnel: they lift up our hearts, they make us laugh and they help us to hold on tight.
So even though the dilemmas facing Whitehall now are desperately grave, perhaps its mandarins and wonks need to appreciate that, in times of crisis, the arts have a significant role in keeping up national morale. The Second World War demonstrated that: throughout its darkest hours, the likes of Sadler’s Wells Ballet and Vera Lynn went on tour, brightening our days, comforting our nights and giving us hope.
Their successors can and will do the same now, but with a crucial difference. In the Forties, live performance brought people out and generated the warmth of being together; the deepest horror of the coronavirus pandemic is that it obliges us to keep our “social distance”, allowing us only the virtual contact of the internet. And while it’s all very well having access to the glut of entertainment available through the likes of Netflix, there is no substitute for being close to others as part of a communal audience. This restriction on our ability to rub shoulders will be a severe test of our humanity.
Over the past days, we have heard a lot about the effects of the lockdown on the arts. From the Royal Opera House and Tate Britain to the humblest local theatre or museum, doors have been closed; summer festivals like Glastonbury and Buxton have been cancelled, as have the shootings of films and television series. Questions about the legal status of the Government’s recommendations of closure have not been answered and the extent to which compensation for loss of income can be claimed through insurance is not clear. My guess is that as the tedious weeks tick by and another insidious virus, namely boredom, worms its way in and becomes stronger than fear of Covid-19, some institutions will find ways to bypass or leapfrog official injunctions.
Wasfi Kani, the founder and chief executive of Grange Park Opera, has been forced to “postpone” her entire 2019 summer season, but she’s already thinking of how “in June or July” she might open up the woods and the gardens around her rustic theatre to create a fête champêtre – “Bring your own picnic, perhaps some musical recital involved too.” Simon Wallis, the director of The Hepworth Wakefield, is looking even further ahead with something like enthusiasm. “This could be a fantastic opportunity to explore new ways of engaging with people digitally. We need collaborative conversations – and where better than a country like Britain that has such an amazing record for making connections and thinking creatively.”
For example, Sam Thorne, the director of Nottingham Contemporary, told me how successful this week’s session of its free art school has worked on the conference call website Zoom.
Not everything is dependent on
computers either: where I live in south London, a normally rather atomised street of rented flats has started a buzzing Whatsapp group that resulted within hours in the establishment of a rock band and thoughts of open-air amateur dramatics.
Longer-term damage to the sector cannot yet be properly assessed: the uncertainties about timescales simply don’t allow it. What worries Dave Murphy, the chief executive of Cambridge Arts Theatre, isn’t so much the extent of the refunds on tickets he’ll have to make or the contracts he’ll need to cancel (force majeure should allow him to do that without penalty), but “what will be there to pick up at the end of it all”. Like so many regional theatres, Cambridge Arts relies largely on touring shows rented from commercial producers: these have to be planned many months in advance, and “of course, at the moment nobody is in a position or mood to plan anything.”
Wealthy producers of big shows like Cameron Mackintosh and Sonia Friedman may be able to pay retainers that will keep casts together until restrictions lift. But for how long? And can the relevant unions be relied upon to come to realistic agreements? The major theatre, opera and ballet companies have large salaried staffs that cannot just be dismissed.
“We are relatively fortunate to have some reserves’ says Lisa Burger, executive director of the National Theatre, “but as things stand, even these will run out after two months. Other institutions don’t even have that cushion: they exist on a financial cliff edge. But I know that the cultural sector is resilient, resourceful, inventive, ingenious and fanatically hard-working: if the Government can only give us a helping hand, we can find ways to evolve and keep afloat.” Already, the National has developed contingency plans, from a best-case scenario of two months’ closure to a worst case of six months.
The adage of the investment magus Warren Buffett comes to mind: “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” Over the ensuing months, a lot of arts organisations will go to the wall or become insolvent. But although their death throes will be regrettably painful for individuals, this pruning could put an end to a certain sort of posturing.
Thus we could have a back to basics approach, and as Simon Wallis believes, a chance to rethink from scratch what audiences want and need.
What is absolutely vital is a major rethinking of the channels through which the public sector already distributes money to the arts. This will require a radical new set of policies and priorities, as well as a loosening of red tape. “I shouldn’t think diversity will be quite so high up the menu when survival is at stake,” says Dave Murphy.
Meanwhile Arts Council England is “being marvellously clear, encouraging and supportive”, according to Wallis. It has pledged to help out freelance artists who are suffering as a result of cancellation and closure. Chancellor Rishi Sunak has at least shown awareness of the problem in suspending theatres’ business rates, but he will have to do much, much more. Sam Thorne believes that the Treasury might also like to rethink the Brexit Festival slated for 2022: the £120million that has been allotted to it could better be used in sustaining fundamental needs. Easing cashflow problems, especially for smaller organisations without resources to fall back on, will be paramount.
One thing is for sure, come the summer, the map of the arts in Britain is going to look dramatically different. And that need not be entirely for the worse. As Simon Wallis insists, “The question we must keep asking ourselves is this: how do we come out of this stronger?”
The arts lift up our hearts, make us laugh and help us to hold on tight