Reinvigorating Arts & Culture in post covid world
Amit Yadav
Driving Change with National Road Safety Mission | Edtech | Growth | Partnerships
Since the advent of civilization, there have not been many parallels to the current Corona Virus pandemic. Barring Spanish Flu of 1918-20 A.D, Plague of Justinian 541-549 A.D, Black Death 1347-1352, Bubonic plague of 1890’s and World War 2 from 1939-1945, we have not seen large scale devastation of economic activity of this magnitude. Though many academicians espouse that basic survival and the much-fabled ROTI-KAPDA-MAKAAN (food, clothing and shelter) should take precedence over anything else in such times, but there is a growing discussion among the intelligentsia that in such dark times that arts and culture are is equally important in uplifting the morale of the society.
Considering India’s case, catastrophes of COVID-19 crisis also include devastation of arts and cultural organizations in particular. The future for many of these organisations, just like other sectors, look very uncertain. Generally, in India, public financing for arts and culture has always been a big challenge.
Government budget allocation to ministry of Arts and Culture was only 0.024% (INR 3045.35 Cr) of GDP 2018-19 and there is nothing substantial from private sector either... CSR spend towards Arts, Culture and Heritage in 2019-20 was only (189Cr), which amounts to just 1% of total CSR spends across the sectors. Though there are additional channels with significant contributions, but they have never been enough. Funding for Arts and Culture in India has always been led by wealthy private individuals like Mr. Sunil Kant Munjal, Puneet Dalmia, Kiran M. Shaw, Kiran Nadar, some foreign grants, and private sector like Tatas, Infosys, Axis Bank, Havells and few others.
With the gradual opening of economy, restrictions on crowd including social distancing and other measures will mean galleries, museums, and the performing arts (theatre, music, dance), will eventually open. It would be these avenues of culture which are going to lift the people out of this grim pandemic which has devastated everybody with great abandon. As highlighted by the Indian Express and The Hindu “In the face of the pandemic crisis and well beyond, preserving the arts must now be a priority for society. Art Institutions including Museums, Theatres and others form a critical part of our social fabric and deserve to be celebrated. “
As European governments and USA Govt have announced bailout, they have also earmarked new funds for supporting arts and culture. Covid-19 Support Fund by Arts council England has been a huge ray of hope for Arts and Cultural community. But so far we have not seen introduction of such measures in India as so far nothing specific has been announced for Arts and Culture sector. As we have seen from above mentioned data points, the Arts and Culture sector is sensitive and more vulnerable than other competing sectors. A contingency plan to uplift the Arts and Culture sector at this point is the need of the hour.
Art not only fosters the human need for self-expression and fulfilment; it also adds a lot of value at an economic level. Although there has been no census, estimates tell that creative sector (arts, craft, performing arts and cultural) employs more than 20 Million people. The Art value chain that involves creation, management and distribution of arts is a huge industry. The creative sector is estimated to be .95% of Indian GDP (CISAL-2014). In 2018 the direct contribution of only arts and culture to Indian GDP stands at approximately 510 billion INR.
Though attempts are being made by the Arts and culture sector organisations to support their mission to provide access to cultural heritage to the community while still maintaining the safety of their employees and the public. A complete metamorphosis is required at a business model to level if the Arts and Culture sector has to truly recover from this pandemic. Some of the steps that can be taken are
- Capture the Digital Natives by making arts accessible on Digital
By March 2020, most of the cultural institutions around the world had been indefinitely closed. All the exhibitions, galleries events and performances had been cancelled or postponed. In response to the ongoing scenario, intensive efforts to provide alternative or additional services through digital platforms is the need of the hour. This would not help in capturing new generation of art afficionados who spend most of the day on such platforms but also reduce the cost of dissemination of arts and will lead to Democratization of Arts. This will make arts accessible to masses and not limited to select strata of society.
- Monetary stimulus from government
Support funds like CoVid-19 support by Arts Council England ($200 Million), Artist Relief US - $10 Millions, Canada $60Million, Hong-Kong $150Milion have been announced to ensure the arts and culture organisation and artist survive the test of pandemic times. Indian Government needs to do the same.
- Solve the funding challenge by Greater Participation of Corporates
The Corporations and individuals should come forward to support the community as art influences society by changing opinions, imparting values and interpreting experiences across space and time. More and more funds should be set up in India to support the art and culture community. Just like west, the corporations should come forward to support the art and culture of India. When it comes to funding via CSR route, the trends states that there are not many investors in this sector, less than 1% is spend on arts, culture and heritage.
This needs to be fundamentally altered. Corporations must value the importance of arts and culture. Art is sybaritic communication; it allows people from different backgrounds and times to connect with each other via images, sounds and stories. Art is a medium for social change. It can give voice to the politically or socially marginalized. A song, film or novel can rouse emotions in those who encounter it, inspiring them to stand for change. Art has utilitarian impact on society. Thus, Arts is important for progression of the society.
There is a need of arts support fund to help foster the creative society, we must act now and these steps can reinvigorate the Arts sector.
The public demand for cultural activities is expected to return, and we must be ready for it this time. This is just a minor part of a much larger challenge.
However, a combination of ideas is needed to augment scarce funding. The virus must not be allowed to kill off cultural institutions that would be impossible to supplant.
When Winston Churchill was asked to cut arts funding to support the war effort during World War II, he replied: “Then what are we fighting for?”. We must apply the same dictum in current times.
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