Of course, the pandemic itself cut off channels of collaboration: borders were sealed, and movement restricted in a way that no post-WW2 generation had ever experienced before. However, it is essential to reflect on how this fact materially amplifies and symbolically super-charges a trend that predates the Covid crisis.
The reaffirmation of European borders, externally and internally was already well under way, articulated within the financial crisis (with its singling out of the PIIGS), the refugee crisis and of course Brexit. In Greece, from where I write, the Covid crisis coincided with an escalation of the refugee crisis, and these were deliberately amalgamated in the headlines of leading newspapers proclaiming that Turkey was sending over refugees infected with the virus. The combination of physical border closures and the state-led response to support local cultural scenes creates a real danger of the emergence of ‘national’ cultural ideologies and policies. It is too early to say to what degree this will happen, but I would contend that the ways in which cultural organisations (and the artists they support and promote) react to this context will be a defining moment for the existence of a European cultural sphere.
The closure of borders had immediate consequences at other practical and financial levels also since it radically affected the whole touring circuit which was a prominent feature of the European cultural sector. This especially affects large-scale productions, which were often financially viable only if they toured extensively and played to full houses. The slow-down in tourism likewise adversely affected large museums whose revenues depend to a large degree on such visitors.
Covid, the climate emergency and the arts
In the same way as the Covid crisis intersects with other crises (the refugee crisis, nationalism) so it does with the climate crisis. The sudden cessation of travel and many types of industrial production made clear the effects of human activity on our environment. Much was written about birds reappearing in city parks, radical reductions in atmospheric pollution and a new-found silence in urban spaces. This breach in our polluting normality gave rise to an encouragingly generalised conviction that any resumption of activity should not be on the same terms as before, but should be defined by sustainable practices, something that as we saw was also a key component of the European Commission’s declared policies even before the Covid crisis.
As with the previous theme of borders, but this time with laudable intentions, mobility within the cultural sector had been in question before the Covid crisis. At the very least, concerned organisations had started thinking of ways to limit or counter-balance the carbon footprint of festivals or the art world, large music acts had announced new approaches to taking their massive shows on the road and studies of the internationalisation of cultural work had scrutinised its environmental impact. In conversations with many colleagues throughout Europe over the past months it has been clear that, although pre-dating it, this factor has emerged during the current crisis as a major factor in planning projects for the future. It will be interesting to see how the sector evolves in this regard, but two trends are already apparent: there will be less touring and much of that will primarily be regional, permitting travel by train. The implications of this seem to be clear: the concentration of sufficient funds, extensive rail coverage and geographic proximity will reinforce a primary touring zone in central and north-west Europe and entrench a periphery elsewhere that has yet to develop its own regional networks and will be in effect left out of most touring schedules. Although the carbon footprint of touring must indeed be addressed, a collateral result might therefore be further geographic fragmentation of the cultural sector and an increase in already existing inequalities. It should be noted that although this is a trend that has been intensified during the Covid crisis it will continue to strengthen even when the pandemic is brought fully under control.
Physical distance and artistic forms
It is difficult, at the time of writing, to foresee how long other immediate effects of the pandemic will endure, most notably the very strange and uncomfortable imperative of “social distancing”.
Certainly, studies carried out during the current crisis have indicated that physical conditions are prime drivers in deciding whether to visit a cultural space or not. A lot will depend on how regulations change over time, with the availability of vaccines for example, but also on how the public’s attitudes have been affected by their experience of being subjected to the most extreme set of biopolitical controls the world has ever seen.
The need to create and program less expensive productions or exhibitions will be strong for as long as physical distancing regulations in performing arts spaces and museums or audience attitudes make it impossible to generate enough income from ticket sales. It will be extremely interesting to see how artists and curators react by possibly questioning well established forms and formats but also how institutions that grew during the previous decades will evolve as formats and audiences shrink. Over the past decades there has been a boom in the development of large cultural infrastructures. In today’s circumstances much of this infrastructure is a liability. The challenge is certainly not the same for museums or galleries and for theatres, concert halls and smaller performance venues, but in all cases business models and the ways in which art is presented need to be thought through.
Historically, there has been a tight connection between audiences, cultural spaces and artistic forms and we are perhaps living through a moment of radical re-alignment of these elements.
Resilience and community
Above all and at a very practical level, for the cultural sector and the whole ecosystem of artists, workers and suppliers involved in it, this crisis has been and still is about survival. As we saw, the EU and the member states, to very different degrees, stepped in to ensure the short-term liquidity of workers and institutions, but these measures are temporary. As the question of funding, always at the top of most organisations’ and artists’ agendas anyway, becomes ever more urgent (in the context of a dire global economic outlook) and ‘bums on seats’ of necessity becomes secondary as a metric, funders (private or public) will require different validation of the impact of their support.
Again, this is not a new trend. For at least the past 15 years cultural projects have been increasingly assessed based on their contribution to political, social / philanthropic and development agendas. More recently, issues of equality, inclusion and diversity have gained traction, underlining the importance of the strategies that cultural organisations develop to engage new audiences.
The Covid crisis is likely to accentuate these trends. First of all, perceptions of what is most important to society are consolidating around issues of financial security, health and environmental quality. With limited budgets available and confronted by a recession of massive proportions and an unknown duration, the allocation of funds between the maintaining job security, strengthening health services or the cultural sector takes on a new aspect. The restriction on mobility has reinforced thinking about relationships with local audiences as a prime component of organisations’ strategies. Into this overall context one should also add the fact that the Covid crisis, despite its supposed action as a great leveller in fact impacted society very much along class and racial divides. As I write, the Black Lives Matter movement has burst onto the global scene with a force that has, I believe, been multiplied by the pandemic’s exacerbation of insecurity and the questioning of power structures that ensues from the perception of the system’s overall fragility.
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Christos Carras | Radio Free (2020-06-30T19:56:02+00:00) Getting our act together: in the European non-profit cultural sector. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2020/06/30/getting-our-act-together-in-the-european-non-profit-cultural-sector/
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