If I’ve learnt anything in the last year, it’s to not take anything for granted. The air we breathe, the water we drink, food that is readily available, being able to go on holiday, being able to see and hug your family. The word ‘bubble’ has taken on a whole new meaning, and as for ‘the new normal’, well life will never be ‘normal’ again (and it was always a pointless word anyway!)

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But in the last year, I have also realised that one of my greatest loves, a part of the world that I hold especially close to my heart because of my family and our world, one of the most significant and essential elements of our world is being cancelled and destroyed and forgotten about! 

Because The Arts is an industry with such divisions in earnings, sometimes people lose sight of the real point and passion of it. Yes there are some that earn the big bucks and yes ‘some’ may see it as an industry of back patters and award ceremonies but getting down to the bare bones, the nitty gritty, the actual facts of the industry: it’s the backbone of this country. It’s the power-house that keeps us together as a society while a government can’t even keep itself together! 

It’s a complicated industry, not least because it involves opinions! There’s no right or wrong, it’s an industry where even the audience is allowed to express itself. And that scares some people, they can’t handle it, they want it all to be clear cut. And it isn’t! Life isn’t! And so this industry is a truer reflection of us than any other! We relate and we feel and we share. 

How dare anyone suggest that an actor, artist, musician…should retrain! What the government should be doing is pumping money into an industry that will ultimately keep this country afloat.

The Arts Council’s report from 2019 is based on data from the Office for National Statistics. Highlights are as follows:-

The arts and culture industry has grown £390million in a year and now contributes £10.8billion a year to the UK economy.The sector contributes £2.8billion a year to the Treasury via taxation, and generates a further £23billion a year and 363,700 jobs.Productivity in the arts and culture industry between 2009 and 2016 was greater than that of the economy as a whole, with gross value added per worker at £62,000 for arts and culture, compared to £46,800 for the wider UK economy.

Click here for the full report https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication/contribution-arts-and-culture-industry-uk-economy-0 

The Arts is huge, it’s everywhere, it’s our culture, it’s us! It’s crucial!

Most people are aware how much The Arts has been reduced on the school curriculum. What do they think that does? It gives future generations the impression that it’s not important enough to study. But bloody hell it is! There are students who thrive because they get to express themselves in a drama lesson; there are students who only want to go to school for that one lesson a day where they are free to express themselves in art or music. We’re going to end up with a nation of bored, uninspired teenagers! (And before anyone gets on their high horse, I’m an English teacher, I know how hard it is to teach a compulsory subject but I also know that every teacher I’ve ever worked with, whatever the subject, is creative and inventive and passionate. Where do you think that comes from?)

My dad is a retired actor. He worked in theatre from the time me and my sister were toddlers up until we were adults. He was sometimes on tour for months at a time. He didn’t have normal working hours, he had ‘theatre hours,’ sounds glamorous but oh my god he worked hard. He was passionate about it and loved it and he was bloody good at it. But it was his job! He chose to do it to earn a living. Just because it happened to be something that he loved doesn’t make it any less of a career path.  Maybe this is where the language of the industry is misleading to the narrow-minded people in this world. Some say it’s ‘a calling’, and because ‘talent’ is involved that must mean artists, actors, musicians, technicians, stage managers, lighting designers, set designers and so many more….don’t work hard, right? Wrong. So very wrong. My sister and sister-in-law are Stage Managers. They studied for their careers just like a lawyer, or an accountant or a teacher. They went to college and uni and they worked bloody hard. Their days didn’t finish when the college day ended because then they put shows on and created wonderful spectacles for the rest of us to enjoy when we’d finished our day’s work. (And I’m not claiming their job is harder or longer than any other profession but it is a job and a career, not a lifestyle choice!) People who work in the Arts are professionals and they deserve to be treated as professionals, not patronised and treated like nobodies.

As a country, as a community, the Arts is in our blood and the only good thing about all this is that, in my fifteen years of teaching,  I know that the generations I’ve taught and the ones I still teach have heart and passion and they have sass and determination and there are enough of them to realise that some things in life are sacred and will never be washed away. The younger generations are the ones that always show something new and wonderful and teach us old buggers a thing or two. Thank goodness for them. Thank goodness for all the people who care about what really matters. Thank goodness for The Arts. Because without it, where would we be? Just picture that. No theatres. No music venues. No arts festivals. No galleries.

The recent (I’m really searching for a positive word here but all I can think of is) shite that has come from the government regarding the arts, is outrageous and frustrating and insulting and a joke! It only serves to highlight the fact that this government are letting the Arts fall into oblivion. For me, and many others, the Arts is a massive part of what makes Britain, Britain. And to let it slip away so blatantly shows nothing but disrespect, heartlessness and arrogance.

So, I’m getting off my fence, “I will wear my heart upon my sleeve” and put my two penneth in. Would love to know your thoughts in the comments below.

Thanks for reading