Half of all music venues and 70% of theatres across the UK face permanent closure as a result of the coronavirus crisis, industry leaders have told a committee of MPs.
Horace Trubridge, the general secretary of the Musicians’ Union, and Julian Bird, chief executive of UK Theatre and Society of London Theatre, painted a grim picture of the plight of swathes of the UK creative industry as the coronavirus keeps doors shuttered and venues struggling to stay afloat financially.
“We never ever imagined that something like this, so catastrophic could come along that would kill live music for a period of time,” said Trubridge, speaking at a virtual session of the House of Commons culture select committee of MPs looking at the impact of Covid-19 on the creative industries.
“A lot of music venues are in city centres in sort of prime real estate. If they can’t continue to make the money that keeps the doors open then I think their landlords will be thinking about doing something else with the properties. We could very easily lose half the music venues we have in the UK during this crisis if there isn’t more permanent support for them.”
The Music Venue Trust, which has campaigned for years to save grassroots music venues, says it has 800 members.
Bird cited the example of the Birmingham Hippodrome – the home stage of the Birmingham Royal Ballet and venue for touring West End shows such as Wicked and We Will Rock You – which on Monday said that 60 of its 130 full-time staff face redundancy with the venue set to stay closed until October.
“There are just under 1,100 theatre buildings in the UK, around the same as Asda and Morrisons stores combined,” Bird said. “Just over 50% are charities or trusts. They are in every town and village area, at the heart of communities.
“Our latest survey told us 70% of theatres or production companies will run out of cash, go out of business, by the end of this year. Unless there is a change in some of the government support you will see more and more theatres like Birmingham Hippodrome make difficult decisions about their workforce in order to preserve themselves.”
Both men called on the UK government for additional support for the creative industries, citing examples such as Germany’s €1bn (£890m) cultural fund, as venues struggle and tens of thousands of workers failed to qualify for support schemes.
Trubridge said that nearly 40% of members of the Musicians’ Union didn’t qualify for either self-employment income support or furlough schemes.
“Members have had no income whatsoever since the middle of March,” he said. “We know many of our members, up to maybe more than 20%, think they won’t be able to stay in the profession if this goes on for too long.”
Asked about implementing physical distancing rules when venues are allowed to reopen, both men said they could not see how it would be economically viable for venues, even if a 1-metre rule replaced the 2 metres currently required. “That is not an economic business model most venues can operate on realistically going forward,” said Bird.
