Canadian Government Executive - Volume 26 - Issue 05

8 / Canadian Government Executive // September/October 2020 COVID-19 many societies and economies. Quite apart from the loss of income support, COVID has had devastating effects on the cultural sector worldwide. UNESCO reports on empty cultural sites, closed institutions, suspension of cultural practices, and un- anticipated negative by-products such as looting of cultural sites as a result of inad- equate security, lack of ongoing conserva- tion work owing to loss of revenue, loss of educational materials, and loss of cultural diversity through suspension of cultural social practices. The impact has dispropor- tionately hit poor countries and vulnerable groups the hardest, where out-of-work art- ists have no social safety net to fall back on. It is worth remembering that 46 per cent of the global population is offline. “Working from home” is often not a viable option. UNESCO estimates that many museums, up to 13 per cent, may never re-open, es- pecially those largely dependent on ad- mission revenues for financial support. In a survey, one third of independent galler- ies and art dealers indicated that they do not expect to survive. Some art institutions may have to close permanently. Overall, there could be a loss of 10 per cent of GDP in some countries because of the impact of COVID on cultural industries, especially where culture is a key driver of tourism. Is there any glimmer of hope in this bleak landscape? If you subscribe to the theory that out of adversity comes strength, then possibly some good will come out of the adaptations that have been and will be necessary to live with COVID. First, I think COVID has shown us just how important culture, creative industries, and institutions are to our daily lives, not just in economic terms but to our ability to exist as sentient beings. Think of the en- joyment and release that music provides, the escape of a good novel or film, the ap- preciation of the ingenuity of creators in the visual and plastic arts—in short, the importance of culture to spiritual recov- ery. For those fortunate enough to live in a digital world, there has been an opening of new possibilities for access to content. But this can also be a double-edged sword for local creators who may suddenly find themselves in competition with artists a continent away. To cite a local example, my small but proficient regional orches- tra, the Victoria Symphony, has not been able to present live performances. The alternative is to try to get the musicians together—in smaller groups than the full orchestra—to perform online. That draws people back in, and the next step will be to try to convert this online interest into rev- enue generation. But getting people to pay for online content is a challenge especially in a world of unlimited alternatives. If I am going to watch and listen to an online performance of, say, Mozart, why would I choose a local orchestra over the finest in the world, also available online? Museums and galleries face the same challenge and have gone digital, mounting virtual exhibits and tours, similar to what classical music organizations are trying to do. That can work well where the offering is unique (rarely is this the case with clas- sical music), but virtual exhibitions need to offer something special that cannot be obtained elsewhere. And, while the online environment offers consumers the ability to see or hear content, it does not offer the context of viewing or listening to it live, in an interesting museum building or con- cert hall, sharing the experience with oth- ers. We all know what the Mona Lisa looks “…technical support is also needed (especially for smaller organizations) on how to conform with health and safety requirements as well as how to adapt their business models in light of a protracted period of restrictions on live performances”. like, but it’s the real thing that we want to see. That is what COVID restrictions are denying us. So, what is the answer? To date, many of the responses from governments have been to provide various types of finan- cial support to the sector, as I noted in a blog I posted early in the pandemic. The maintenance of subsidies and the provi- sion of some income support helped stave off immediate collapse and enabled many organizations and creators to manage— barely—for the time being. Much of this support is of an interim nature, however, providing help to get through the next few months while we wait to see what hap- pens with COVID. This will be great if, in the end, we come out of this collective ex- perience with a vaccine, or a cure, and ev- erything goes back to the status quo ante. Personally, I’m not betting on it. I have a feeling that we’re in this for the long-haul and that COVID—or the next pandemic—is going to require us to do some things dif- ferently on a more permanent basis. One of these will be the ways in which we in- teract with culture and consume content. But first, we have to figure out how to sus- tain the sector economically. There are various measures that can be taken to address the financial challenge that creative industries and professions are facing, although some painful adjust- ments are, I think, inevitable. With regard to the US, the Brookings study comments that; “Small, stop-gap measures will not undo the damage; a substantial and sustained na- tional creative-economy recovery strategy is required. This strategy must be bottom-up, but supported across the board and led by local public-private partnerships between