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To My Elected Member of Parliament,

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Introduce yourself, with a brief outline of who you are, what you do, and any connection you have to the field of the arts & entertainment. If you have huge clout within the media, tell them!

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I would like to bring your focus to something that is causing huge concern amongst people connected to the Arts & Entertainment sector, and increasingly to the vast number of people who enjoy live events of every kind throughout the United Kingdom.

 

Through no fault of their own, many people from these industries are on the verge of losing their entire livelihoods; as you can imagine, this is causing incalculable amounts of worry - in some cases, people are becoming ill with stress as a direct result of the uncertainty surrounding their futures and the impact on their financial situations.

 

Whilst it is true there is barely any part of society that hasn't felt a negative impact of Covid-19, the Arts & Entertainment scene has had it's entire source of income - and indeed way of life - taken away.

 

Without question, the industry has complied with all new regulations and risen to the challenge to operate within their boundaries wherever possible and wants to continue to do so – however, it is essential that a clear roadmap for reopening is formulated, and that financial support is made available more readily in the interim, to ensure this huge sector survives. Many organisations and individuals have fallen through the cracks of the prerequisite conditions required by governing bodies to access relief funds, grants or even loans. In doing so, thousands will be forced on to Universal Credit despite being tax-paying members of society and often having had viable and flourishing businesses prior to the pandemic.

 

Within the previously thriving ecosystem of this country’s great cultural sector, there are many businesses that face losing everything; from theatres, clubs and event spaces, to festivals and social clubs, practically every aspect of society, community and social life will be impacted by loss within the sector.

 

It isn’t just the businesses that are directly impacted that will suffer, the reach goes far wider.

The UK has a world famous festival scene with people travelling to this country specifically to attend music events. The knock on effect of that being left to die out will be huge and a dent in tourism will likely come as a result. There are also many regional businesses that rely on socialising for much of their incomes. For example, taxi companies in towns carrying passengers to and from venues, pubs, train stations and their homes in the evenings or hair & beauty salons are seeing a massive downturn in regular activity due to people using their services prior to an evening out. There has been huge publicity surrounding bars and restaurants losing their vital pre-theatre early doors trade due to the venues being shut and we expect there be knock on effects across many more industries as a result of the lockdown and extended restrictions.

 

To list every aspect connected to the Arts & Entertainment would take far too long for a simple letter to my MP, but performers, technical crew, caterers, bar staff, venue cleaners and security teams barely scratches the surface of it. All of these people are vital and viable for the industry’s survival.

 

I understand this is a difficult time, but to allow the live entertainment sector to be irreparably decimated will cause catastrophic knock on effects that will affect the well-being, livelihood and futures of all aspects of society in Great Britain for a long time to come.

 

 

Yours respectfully

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