Artists and Arts Workers Must Be Supported if They Are to Survive the Covid-19 Crisis

The individual artist and arts organisation members of Theatre Forum are disappointed by the Department of Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht’s announcements last Friday.

The €3,000 award for 334 professional artists to create online work doesn’t allow for the collaborative practices at the heart of the performing arts. For all of the makers, directors, producers, sound and set designers, and technicians isolating in their own homes, this award is largely irrelevant.  It doesn’t consider the people managing venues and festivals looking at cancelled events, performances and for some, entire programmes, who have to figure out how they will be able to offer artists work in the future and find their audiences after the worst of this crisis is past. Most of all, it doesn’t recognise that the arts ecosystem as well as artists has to be properly supported in order to survive, adapt, make, perform and present work again post-crisis.

Theatre Forum is working with the board of directors, members and colleagues to make representations about what employment supports would best help artists and arts organisations to survive this crisis.

Please complete our short survey to ensure the various support schemes are better suited to artists and arts organisations.