The show must go on; reopening our theatres – The Yorkshire Post says

THE Government’s £1.57bn support package for the performing arts provides a financial lifeline to UK culture and goes far further than many theatre bosses had expected.
The National Theatre in London is wrapped in tape to illustrate the difficulties facing the cultural sector during the Covid-19 lockdown.The National Theatre in London is wrapped in tape to illustrate the difficulties facing the cultural sector during the Covid-19 lockdown.
The National Theatre in London is wrapped in tape to illustrate the difficulties facing the cultural sector during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Part of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s economic package that is due to be unveiled tomorrow, it also demonstrates that Ministers recognise the importance of culture and the arts to both the economy and national psyche.

But the applause is muted because all this does is buy some time for venues at risk of closure unless a way can be found for live performances to resume, and preferably before the lucrative and traditional pantomime season at the end of the year.

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And this is where Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden let himself – and also the arts sector down – with a series of lacklustre interviews in which he offered little hope on theatres being able to open their doors by 2021.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden.Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden.

Where’s the practical plan a from his department to help theatres, and venues, to get back on their feet and conform to social distancing? His ambivalence did not inspire confidence.

Mr Dowden also failed to recognise the difference between theatres and live sporting events. Football and cricket are taking place behind closed doors to secure money from lucrative TV contracts.

Yet, without live audiences, theatres have no income to pay staff or bills – and soon they will be bereft of salary subsidies from the Government’s furlough scheme as it winds down.

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As such, the Minister needs to set up a task force to establish just what is needed for venues to reopen. If not, he won’t just be cast as a panto villain. He’ll be a political one too.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

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Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson, Editor

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