Diversity in the arts was improving – and then Covid happened
As we emerge from a long, bleak year of lockdowns, the creative industries should be where we go to to seek comfort and enjoyment. But the theatres, film sets, galleries and venues that were forced to close face an uncertain future. The sector has been among the worst-hit during the pandemic, losing up to 90 per cent of revenue due to Covid. This is exacerbated as the many benefits of the European Union to the sector have been replaced by layers of red tape and uncertainty.
It’s also had a detrimental impact on efforts to improve diversity in the creative industries – a sector which has up until recently been hard to break into without the right connections and finances to afford free or more often low-paid internships.
Pre-pandemic figures show a lack of diversity across gender, race, disability, sexuality, age, and socioeconomic background. Specific initiatives to widen opportunities had begun – slowly, incrementally – to improve things. The pandemic has halted such progress. We lacked diversity to begin with, and Covid has made this much worse.