Exeunt Magazine: I’m old enough to remember March 2020, when the media were falling over themselves to proclaim the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak as “Dishy Rishi” and Prime Minister in waiting. The Job Retention Scheme was seen as almost unbelievable act of generosity and the British people were supposed to line up and tug their forelocks in appreciation. Yes, it was a golden time, unless you had been in a job for less than a year or worked in an industry that required large numbers of people to congregate in small spaces. Industries like the creative arts.
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It’s no secret that the arts are struggling. I’ve been very in-tune with the situation in the United States, but it’s discouraging to see that artists are not receiving aid in the UK as well. One of my favorite small-town movie theaters in my hometown had to shut down because although they received community donations, they received no aid from the government. The government holds most of the control, and as is mentioned in the article - a lot of art criticizes these governments. However, if this is a reason to drop funding, it is - for lack of a better word - childish. In this industry we are a lot of times taught to not burn bridges, and not “bite the hand that feeds us.” However, in this situation, the hand is not feeding us, but has literally left us to the natural elements. We need to be able to criticize our government and the handling of this situation without having to worry about it affecting our livelihoods, and the landscape of the arts in our communities.
In a time when it is quite clear that covid is here to stay, you would imagine that every individual and institution would want to help each other, to makes this time somewhat bearable. Yet, here we are, talking about the government has failed to provide and care for the artist community. The entertainment industry has been badly hit, given how social interaction has been curbed, and this has had a direct impact on the personnel working in the industry.
The governments pretty much everywhere have been, for the past couple of months, talking about what all they are trying to do in order to help laid- off employees but in reality, they have done so little for them, like it is out there, in the world, where several thousands of people are struggling to make ends meet. They have no support from their companies because these companies themselves are struggling to not be in a place where they are shut down.
First of all, it’s important that in the UK and the US, we acknowledge that we are so screwed by the pandemic because of the government's incompetence, downplaying the severity of Covid and failing to act urgently and accordingly. The expectation for the government to do more would make less sense in a country like New Zealand, who handled the pandemic wonderfully. However, because it’s the government’s fault we’re in this mess, it is completely reasonable that artists demand the government do something to fix the mess they made. Second of all, what is government if not a big community pool of money that we all put into with our taxes to then get out of it what we want. I’m tired of hearing conservatives complain that artists are asking for government handouts as if that idea is some preposterous communist notion. That’s what the government is there for, to run the nation and to give out handouts as society sees fit. During a pandemic, when live events have come to a screeching halt, I will not allow anyone to make me feel guilty or like a lazy leech for expecting the wealthy to take care of me in my time of need. Give me a handout, it’s what I deserve.
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