‘Distancing rules are disaster for the arts’
Horsecross Arts (HX) has called the Scottish Government’s current physical distancing rules “a disaster” and is calling for urgent focus on the pathway for reopening indoor arts venues.
Nick Williams, chief executive of HX, the Perth charitable trust behind Perth Concert Hall and Perth Theatre, strongly attacked the lack of a road map towards reopening venues.
He said Scotland’s halls and theatres risk being “irreparably damaged” due to “extreme” social distancing rules.
The current distancing requirements mean the 1200-seater Perth Concert Hall can only fill 16 per cent of seats.
With a maximum of 195 guests in for an event, it would be seeing less than a quarter of its giant capacity filled.
He told the PA the last thing he wanted to be is “the man who cancelled Christmas” but with a festive programme needing to be ironed out by next month, there was no way the Perth venues could be sustainable opening for Christmas extravaganzas with such restricted ticket sales.
Mr Williams pointed to the night economy in Perth and city centre’s recovery all being clobbered by the lack of room for the keystone arts venues to operate in.
The Perth Concert Hall and Perth Theatre boss said the long lead-up required to plan an events programme meant if the law suddenly relaxed and the buildings were green-lit to open, he simply could not conjure up the entertainment to fill the stages.
He appealed for “a sensible conversation” with the Scottish Government regarding its “total misunderstanding” of the specific planning and financial needs of the indoor arts venues as a sector.
Mr Williams said as it stands, Scotland is being blacklisted by major acts planning tours as the laws regarding social distancing are so much stricter north of the border.
Mr Williams said: “If we don’t gain clarity from the Scottish Government in the next few weeks, we know that promoters will withdraw their tours from the autumn programme, and only present them in England and Wales where they are viable.
“I believe there has been a total lack of understanding from the Scottish Government on how we operate.
“We have to take decisions in June about our Christmas plans and, at present, we have no hope of presenting our traditional panto and range of classical, rock and traditional Scottish music concerts as we’ll have no lead time to make that happen.
“The last thing I want is to be pointed at as ‘the man who cancelled Christmas’, but that’s what it looks like must happen.
“We face disaster with the current distancing rules.
“We find ourselves in a situation where customers could be sitting at a one metre distance from other households in our café without masks, then have to move to 2.5m distancing with masks as they enter the auditorium.
“There also appears to be no interest from the Scottish Government in running test events unlike in England and Europe, or indeed take information learnt from these test events and apply it here.”
A spokesperson from the Scottish Government responded by pointing to the route map for a move to level one and then zero of restrictions.
They added: “In August and September 2020, we provided £12.5 million to the performing arts sector through the Performing Arts Venues Relief Fund.
“Additionally, we provided almost £15 million to the wider culture sector through the Culture Organisations and Venues Relief Fund.
“The Scottish Government is also extending 100 per cent non-domestic rates relief for retail, leisure, hospitality and aviation businesses for this financial year.”