COVID-19 and the arts and cultural sectors: investigating countries’ contextual factors and early policy measures (original) (raw)
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Creative Industry in Terms of COVID-2019 Pandemic: European Countries Responsive Measures
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2021
Creative sectors are vital in their own right in terms of their economic footmark and employment. Furthermore, they push innovation across the economy, as well as contribute to various other channels for positive social effect (education, inclusion, wellbeing, health, urban renewal). Creative industry was hit hardly by the pandemic, with large cities often covering the greatest share of jobs at-risk. This paper aimed to discover the effects of the pandemic on creative sectors and the measures European countries have introduced to support creative industry. The study employed the methods of statistical and comparative analysis and the construction of logical assumptions. The results show that the COVID-19 has affected almost every individual in the creative industry. Many European counties have used various approaches and tools to support the impact of the pandemic on creative industry. There is a need for all the countries to be proactive in protecting the arts and culture and to give the creative sector and arts professionals the appropriate tools to develop strong and cultural policies.
WAS IT DOOMSDAY? FIRST WAVE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT ON THE POLISH CULTURAL INDUSTRY
Economics and Culture, 2022
Research purpose. The COVID-19 pandemic has become a theme of the research on the functioning of the economy and particular industries. The same concerns were raised regarding the issue of the cultural industry. Therefore, the content of this paper was dictated by the recognition of the impact of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic on the activities of the cultural industry in Poland. The formulated research question reads: "How did the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic impact the economic standing of the Polish cultural industry?" Design / Methodology / Approach. The conducted literature review, whose purpose was to recognise the threads of the scientific discourse on the pandemic and cultural industry together with the cultural issues of business activity in a broad sense, was based on the use of the VOSviewer software, based on the data obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection. This concerned publications from January 1, 2020, to April 4, 2022. The part of the paper that leads to answering the research question uses the inductive method. It is based on the analysis of the quantitative data and information obtained from Statistics Poland (GłównyUrządStatystyczny), research reports as well as media releases. Findings. It was determined that in the first year of the pandemic, the number of cultural events, as well as the number of their participants, drastically decreased. There was also a change in the structure and value of expenditures of the citizens of Poland. This caused a drastic fall in revenues from the activity conducted by cultural institutions at the beginning of 2020. The situation improved after the disbursement of the government aid. However, even one year after the first lockdown, the increased debt of the art industry can be pointed out. Originality / Value / Practical implications. Determining in a broad way the impact of the first wave of the pandemic on the cultural industry in Poland concerning the economic standing is a novel approach. The previous studies focused on the situation of particular types of cultural institutions and possibly on the people associated with them. Due to its specificity, the conducted research also makes it possible to identify potential research problems relating to this industry. On the one hand, these potential studies are in line with the research threads represented in world literature. On the other hand, they concerned the specificity of the Polish cultural industry.
White Paper: Breaking out of the COVID-19 Crisis for the European Cultural and Creative Industries
Restarting the Cultural Creative Industries is at the centre of an open and sustainable Europe, 2020
Today Cultural Creative Industries are at the core of the European identity, recognised as an indispensable driver of growth and jobs and cherished as facilitator of innovation throughout the economy. Because of the “Coronavirus” lock-up measurements this major European motor is stalling. First data from the CCI across Europe, provided by approximately 7.000 survey participants, indicate that the shutdown is not merely a pause of economic activities which will continue as they were before stopped. The governments lock-down because of the COVID-19 virus turned an economic slump into a system crisis: While around 60% of those surveyed have already experienced or anticipate a drop in sales of over 30%, numerous companies point out that they expect significantly higher failures in the future. Due to the design of the study and the bias of the respondents the estimated magnitude, still to be regarded as a conservative assessment, amounts to worrying numbers: CCIs from having an it’s a 5.3% share of the total European Gross Value Added (GVA), (Doerflinger 2016) expect to lose a sum of €273 Bn in turnover until the end of 2020. Based on this estimation the ECBNetwork concludes that the critical time where the crisis starts to affect the European creative sector spans from beginning of April to the beginning of June. This indicates a tight timeframe for governments and European measures to be taken to avoid a complete collapse of the European creative industries sector. Given this system crisis of Cultural Creative Industries, Europe's societies, cities and economies, are endangered. CCI turn noise to music, letters to poetry, stones to architectures, and places into venues for diverse cultures and platform of the freedom of expressions. CCI are the base for free press, open society and citizen controlled democracy. CCI are innovators and change makers for the future of smart cities and green economy. If CCI are stalling, the Europe we know today will suffer a heart attack. Given the severity of this European crisis ECBN issues this white paper with four scenarios where the CCI might stand by the end 2020 and from where we may have to restart the CCI. This white paper aims to raise awareness that the restart of the Cultural Creative Industries is central to the future of European society. It calls on the European policy makers to engage in a vigorous debate for the best ways to restart the Cultural Creative Industries in a sustainable, innovative way to turn this historical system crisis to a once in a century chance to move forward to a more sustainable and inclusive Society than before.
Art Organisations during the Pandemic – Catalyser for Best and Worst
2021
Contemporary creative sector endured a lot of problems and challenges during year and a half of the pandemic turbulent presence. Public policies had uneven reactions regarding three different sectors: public cultural sector got most of its needs while private and non-profit civil society sector developed lobbying and advocacy actions or used its own strategies to develop resilience and achieve minimal level of sustainability (Dragicevic Sesic and Dragojevic 2005). This paper will present ways and methods of resilience of all three sectors in fighting negative impact of the pandemic. Data were collected from April to September 2020 within the scope of different international and national research projects: (1) Cultural relations platform and University of Sienna, Isernia P. and Lamonica A. - The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the cultural sector and its implications for international cultural relations. (A scoping review of the Western Balkan by Dragicevic Sesic M.); (2) Cultural leadership and memory narratives (museums, theatres, etc.) during the pandemic: the digital turn (Dragicevic Sesic M. and Stefanovic M.); (3) research projects on social status of artist done by Independent Cultural Scene of Serbia and Association of visual artists of Serbia (Cveticanin P., Ramujkic V. et al.). This presentation will focus on bottom-up cultural policies – innovative and unexpected solutions that were developed in public cultural system (museums and theatres), as well as in civil society (visual arts and performing arts independent scenes). Analysing different approaches of cultural organisations in defending public interest and culture as a public value during the pandemic, it will be shown why the autonomy of the cultural sector is a necessary precondition for its development. Also, the research will analyse how and why the digital turn made a huge impact on cultural practices and how all digital resources and digital competencies had been used for the best during the pandemic by those that had already acquired digital (transmedia) literacy. New reality caused by the pandemic demanded a change of priorities in cultural work, so new horizons of ethics and aesthetics of solidarity, care and hospitality had been opened. This usually refers to civil society and a certain part of public cultural institutions under strong but participative, shared leadership (Dalborg & Löfgren 2016). Institutions adapted, re-positioned, and re-focused their work using diverse digital tools and presenting previously acquired digital archives (such as archive of theatre performances). As responsibility to change was not a common practice of cultural institutions (in many countries public cultural policies have not imposed or inspired subsidised institutions to adapt their practices in both production and dissemination to the circumstances), it was clearly visible that one part of cultural institutions opted for hibernation, having the pandemic as an excuse. On the other side, both private and civil society sectors had to find methods and forms of practices that can be safe (for both artists and audiences) as there would be no other way of survival for them. The data are showing extreme productivity of film and audio-visual sectors as well as of book publishing during the time of pandemic. However, in some other domains of creative industries, the impact of pandemic was of greater importance (as both market forces and unequal and uneven distribution of public resources (i.e., huge priority in film financing), had contributed to that). Special attention will be given to innovations in creative work, its ways of organising during the pandemic that was heavily related to self-organisation, peer actions of solidarity and hospitality toward colleagues from independent sector (freelance artists and cultural workers). Although facing huge risks themselves, numerous cultural organisations had offered their skills and expertise as well as their technical, informational, and human resources to others, less fortunate ones. Thus, it can be concluded that the pandemic acted as a catalyser for the best and for the worst in art and creative sector producing on one side ethics of indifference and passivity (hibernation), while, on the other side, ethics and aesthetics of solidarity, care and hospitality.
Getting our act together - The European non-profit cultural sector and the Covid crisis
Medium, 2020
The Covid-19 crisis has profoundly affected the European non-profit cultural sector. This paper examines what European policies developed in reaction to the crisis tell us about the overall dynamics with which the sector is engaged and the challenges that it faces. It argues that the crisis has acted as an accelerator of pre-existing trends such as developing responses to the climate crisis and managing the digital shift. It concludes with a reminder of the power that the cultural sector has in forming publics and thus public opinions.
Effects & affects of COVID-19 crisis on Austrian Cultural and Creative Industries
Effects & affects of CONVID-19 crisis on Austrian Cultural and Creative Industries, 2020
After the first week of the Corona lockdown of the Austrian economy and society, the domestic Cultural and Creative Industry (CCI) is facing unprecedented challenges. In order to attempt to measure the consequences of these provisions, the European Creative Business Network has carried out a snapshot survey about the effects and affects of the fight against the spread of the new coronavirus on the Austrian cultural and creative industries. The self-assessment by the participants reflected in this study is alarming. The absolute majority of the participants of this snapshot survey expect sale losses. The figures, which refer to the overall economic figures for the Austrian creative industries, are also worrying. Based on this self-assessment, this means, in the long term, that the crisis could lead to a loss of EUR 3 billion in gross annual value added for CCIs in the Austrian market.
Frontiers in Public Health, 2022
Although the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the arts and cultural sector due to the closure of galleries, museums, arts venues, and other cultural assets represents a significant health risk, new opportunities for arts and cultural engagement have arisen. Interviews with 24 representatives including service providers and creative practitioners from 15 arts and cultural organizations within the Liverpool City Region were conducted. The aim was to examine the impact of COVID-19 on arts and cultural provision and on organizations and people providing these services, as well as to understand the perceptions of service providers and practitioners of the effects on those whom arts and cultural organizations serve, including those who would usually access arts through formal healthcare routes (e.g., through collaboration with health partners). Interview data were analyzed using framework analysis. Four overarching themes were identified: Response: Closures, adaptations, and new ...
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has had both financial and activity-related effects on a number of areas of activity, among which those involving the creative industries have proved to be weak in their capacity to survive the halting of all events held in physical spaces. The long-term effects of the current health crisis are bringing about changes in cultural demand and offer and highlighting the need to adapt and to think of new ways of functioning. Taking its cue from this situation, the research underlying our article set out to investigate the ways in which Romania’s independent creative sector is adapting. We achieved this by means of conducting 25 semi-structured interviews and undertaking case studies of two cities that are among the most effervescent from the point of view of cultural and creative industries, Timișoara and Cluj-Napoca. With the strengthening of this sector as the aim in view, the forms of early social resilience we identified are capable in the short term of taking a...