Nearly one in three workers in visual arts sector lose entire April income due to Covid-19

Scotland’s internationally acclaimed contemporary art sector has revealed the brutal impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on the sector, with nearly one in three arts workers losing their entire income last month.

Clare Harris, director of the Scottish Contemporary Art Network. Picture: Rob McDougall

A survey of members of the Scottish Contemporary Art Network found that while more than three quarters (76 per cent) of individuals and organisations had lost income in April, some 29 per cent of people in the sector received no money at all.

In what is described as “sobering reading” for a sector that not only supports critically-acclaimed artists and exhibition, but stages workshops in communities across Scotland, seven in ten organisations said it was likely or very likely they will have to cancel further programmes and projects.

With galleries and production facilities closed, many staff furloughed, and the likelihood that re-opening of cultural venues will be amongst the later stages of the Covid-19 exit strategy, the network warned that the nation’s visual arts scene faces “enormous risk” to the income streams that help support its work.

Its director, Clare Harris, said the survey highlighted the “extent of the crisis” and the “very real impacts on livelihoods.”

She added: “As governments across the UK begin to roll out lockdown exit-planning, we need to work hard for a recovery that will enable the visual art community to get back on its feet and continue to produce work that has a far-reaching benefit for our society.”

While many arts organisations are turning to innovative online programmes, festivals and education initiatives during the outbreak, the loss of ticket sales, and the cancellation of classes, workshops and venue hire means that many are now fearful for their “long term future,” according to the network.

Beth Bate, director of Dundee Contemporary Arts, a popular venue which includes a cinema, print studio, cafe and gallery said that despite having a track record of fiscal prudence, and attempting to diversify its income, the current situation left it “exposed to enormous risk in the medium to long term.”

She explained: “The risks the sector faces will affect all elements of our work and must be mitigated in the coming weeks and months.”

The Gallery of Modern Art, one of Glasgow’s leading visitor attractions, has moved many of its activities online, but its manager, Gareth James, said the lockdown restrictions meant it was having to think about how it would connect with people in the future.

‘We will see a significant drop in income from donations, the shop, and café,” he said. “The tourist market will be dramatically reduced, because people just can’t get to us.

“We still don’t know whether we will have visitors who’ve come into the city to do their work or shopping. As we await further guidelines, we’re thinking about how our audience will change.”

He added: “GoMA has always been hugely popular with the visiting public and we're sure that will be that case in the future. But at the moment we just don't know when we'll be able to safely welcome visitors back in.

“One thing we do know is that contemporary art practice is endlessly inventive, and that gives us hope.’

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