Art #excludeduk
Before I start, this is not a cry for help, or a personal descent into mental health issues. I am fine, I am doing OK considering, and myself and my family will get through this…..Disclaimer over…..Oh…and I might get a little sweary, so if strong language offends, it might be well worth fu…….You know the rest
It is often said that the difference between right and left in political terms is that people on the right look at things from their perspective, and people on the left look at things through others eyes. I’m not sure how true that is, but I think it is relevant today. I am one of millions who have received no financial support from the government, other than the very kind (Irony alert) offer of taking on more debt. This is not because I am a bad person. I am proud of what I have achieved in my creative and business life so far. I’ve worked hard, paid taxes and been a pretty upstanding member of the community (Pauses to take a bow). I just do not understand why I don’t “count” in the eyes of the government.
I’ve often written about the Arts, and the lack of love it is shown. I even get a little annoyed when I see defenders of the arts doing so in purely financial terms, as I believe it shouldn’t need to be judged in that way. However, my job, my career and my passion is under the very gravest of attacks. Even I have started to use the financial argument as well, it appears to be the only language some people understand. This is not just COVID related. It has been happening for much longer than that. COVID has sharpened the senses though. In lockdown we have seen quite how important the Arts has been, has always been , and always will be to people’s well being. It provides us with a way of looking at the world through other eyes, of seeing others views, of learning, of sharing of giving hope. My earliest memory is of music. Some of my happiest memories of being on stage. My proudest moments are lines that only I could have written. This, multiplied by millions is what our cultural footprint should be, but …..
Theatres are closing, musicians hanging up their instruments, Actors giving up, writers looking elsewhere for income, film makers, animators, visual artists….the list appears endless…The government has spoken, and it has spoken thus….”You do not count”.
I cannot write for empty stages. I cannot properly teach on zoom. Theatre cannot exist in a cyber void. You will never get that sheer visceral thrill of live performance though a lens. This is not an opinion based on some theory I’ve read in a book…it is based on experience. A shared experience.
Politicians in general appear to be a simple breed. They believe in the survival of the fittest. The current answer to anyone in the creative industries is along the lines of “We’ve helped millions of others, so stop moaning”. The arts is a “Soft subject”, it’s “Not important”. Just look at the attitude to Drama, music and dance in Schools at the moment. I have seen the disenfranchised, the “unteachable” come to life in a Drama classroom I have seen the silent develop a voice. I have seen the inarticulate explain the world in a single painting. This is what I believe is at the heart of this. They don’t want us to have a voice, but we do. Our voice will always be there. Whatever they do.
So…Rishi Sunak, Oliver Dowden, Boris Johnson, Matt Hancock, and all of the others who have crowded around each other for support like a small Bullingdon gang, and yes I include my MP, who I know has read this site (You are not worthy of being named). You should be ashamed. You have excluded us all from your “support“. We do not count in your eyes, and your rhetoric is not worth listening to. You lie and lie again. There is an excellent campaign for the self employed and freelancers who have been excluded from financial help #excludeduk…check them out https://www.excludeduk.org/. Many of their numbers (Estimated to be three million) are from the Arts. We will get through this somehow, and we will never ever forget that lack of support. Over 100 days without a penny.
Try watching a film or a TV programme or listen to an album with the creativity excluded from it. Try reading a book with the writing removed. This is what you are creating. So what can I do? Not much that will make a difference, but I hope others will join me in this pledge….I can’t enforce my intention, but I can shout it loud…..If you are in any way responsible for this lack of support for the arts, if you support this governments systematic destruction of the arts, if you genuinely believe that that arts is not important, then you are excluded from anything I create. You are not welcome to read, perform, or watch anything I am involved with. Your opinions on my work are invalid, you have excluded yourself from any cultural involvement in my landscape. Stay away, don’t look, fuck off….whatever language persuades you, it applies. You are not welcome in my creative life, as apparently I am not welcome in your financial one.
