Thursday, March 19, 2020
Comedy's coronavirus crisis: 'performers are in deep, deep trouble'
Stage | The Guardian: ‘We will refocus some grant programmes to help compensate individual artists and freelancers for lost earnings.” It wasn’t much – but Arts Council England’s commitment last weekend to shelter independent artists from the storm of venue closures and cancelled events provided a morale boost to a beleaguered sector. Yet there remains a substantial number of independent artists for whom ACE takes no responsibility to support: comedians.
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It is no secret that freelance performers are having a lot of trouble in their industry right now. With very few people leaving their houses, bars and restaurants closing, and all non essential places being closed down, there really isn't anywhere for them to perform, and make their money and a living. In addition, anyone who isn't famous enough to be on netflix doing their comedy is getting really little exposure doing their craft. Corona virus has really impacted everyone and every type of person, and it is so weird to see the world in this state. I really hope that it ends soon, I miss seeing all the wonderful art people are making. There is lots of online art happening right now, but really no one can reach their creative potential on their own. I hope that artist continue to make amazing online forms of art so we can all make it through this outbreak stronger and more bonded as an artistic community.
So many artists who work in comedy are freelance and rely on the consistency of doing gigs in order to make a living. In this article, comedian Liam Williams shares his fear that his career feels threatened during this very uncertain time. As mentioned in other articles, entertainment is an industry with many layers and moving parts and in this article, it is described that "every member of the link in the chain of our industry is affected by this". Live comedy is such an important element of the comedy industry, and that is something that is no longer currently permitted. However, there is hope as comedy evolves in our modern world as more comedians write books, appear in television specials, etc. As said multiple times before, it is important to reiterate the fact that supporting artists who feel extremely job insecure is so important in this very unpredictable environment.
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