Who pays for the arts?
As I step down as Chair of The Literature Centre's Board, I reflect on the perilous state of the arts post-COVID, and why we should not 'contract human experience' by insisting art is politics
Arts organisations, when not running on the smell of an oily rag, exist because of the enormous amount of unpaid labour by volunteers, including volunteer boards.
I started trying to calculate the amount of time I have spent on Board work over the last four years, trying to usher the Centre through a time of enormous upheaval, but I decided I didn’t want to scare off the next chair and desisted. Suffice to say, even during calm times, it’s been regular and significant.
While the government funding received during COVID prevented many arts organisations from going to the wall, The Literature Centre and other outreach arts organisations (particularly those going to schools) have not returned to pre-pandemic bookings - these remain at around 50 per cent of what they were: despite organisations pivoting to online delivery during the pandemic, schools are not booking incursions the way they were. (Anecdotally, established children’s book authors and illustrators confirm this.)
At the same time, costs are going up, and government funding, however much appreciated (which is very much!), has not kept pace.
This environment is challenging enough, but we also have another challenge that has arisen from within.
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