Arts sector identifies second-wave obstacles in new GVPTA report
Amid the findings, organizations and individuals are struggling with planning, digitization, and income
The Cultch has gone online with shows like do you want what I have got? a craigslist cantata (right, photo by Emily Cooper), but many theatres report a lack of capacity and resources amid public-health orders (above, photo by Jen Huber).
THE GREATER VANCOUVER Professional Theatre Alliance shows deepening concerns amid the arts sector in its Fall 2020 COVID-19 B.C. Arts and Culture Impact Report.
Based on surveys of the province’s theatre, gallery, dance, and other organizations, as well as individual artists, between October 24 and November14, it found respondents to be less optimistic about recovery now than in a previous study in May and June.
Amid the concerns, 67 percent of organizations listed public-health orders shuttering venues and reducing audience capacity as obstacles, with 59 percent citing financial constraints and 51 percent reporting a lack of resources or capacity to adapt. Forty-six percent saw the uncertainty of government response as a barrier to plan effectively.
Although 53 percent of arts organizations said they were not concerned about the threat of permanent closure, a disturbing 44 percent said they were “still assessing the situation”.
Most individual artists in the survey identified multiple obstacles, including general uncertainty and inability to plan for the future (83 percent); shortage of available work opportunities (74 percent); and a shortage of personal energy and motivation (61 percent). Fifty-six percent of them expect to earn less than $20,000 from all sources of income this year.
“Not all organizations can hire back artists at the level that they were before,” says GVPTA executive director Kenji Maeda, pointing out hits to hospitality and tourism sectors would also affect the incomes of actors and others who hold down a day job.
Adding to those concerns, the report projects a net decrease in the number of operational and production staff, and artist contracts, along with a net decrease in hours worked over the next three months, compared to the previous period.
CERB is the most accessed relief program for artists and arts workers, with 75 percent of respondents reporting they confirmed approval for it.
Indigenous and racialized respondents seemed to face the most obstacles out of individual artists, with 80 percent of them identifying personal or family health and safety concerns, compared to 54 percent of non-Indigenous or racialized individuals. “That’s another thing where we can say, how can we best support that sector when it comes to government funding?” Maeda says
The vast majority—84 percent— of respondents were interested in digital programming and practices, but 49 percent indicated they don’t have access to the necessary technology to make the shift.
The top four disciplines that strongly or moderately agreed to the statement “Going digital is NOT right for me / my organization” were all within the performing arts: music at 43 percent, circus arts and dance at 41 percent, and theatre at 39 percent.
“For music, circus, dance, and theatre, they’re inherently about people being in the same space together. So when it comes to government response, there are a number of new digital program grants out there, but asking all disciplines to move to digital isn’t necessarily the way forward,” comments Maeda. “Will this actually be the most helpful for the longterm structural needs?”
In late November, when provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and the BC government shut down venues (a shuttering that has now been extended to January 8), Firehall Arts Centre artistic producer Donna Spencer pointed out the financial and logistical challenges of moving to streaming, which her venue, like others, has so far not done. “Streaming is cost prohibitive; most of us were not created to be organizations that livestream,” she said. “It’s a different art form. And then there’s the cost of equipment.”
The GVPTA launched its first of several surveys right after COVID hit, issuing it province-wide, across disciplines as a way of capturing an ever-evolving situation, and to make the best case using full data for the sector. The majority of respondents are from the Greater Vancouver area, with 48 percent in theatre, 37 percent in music, 32 percent in visual arts, and 30 percent each for dance and community arts.
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