Coronavirus

[Brian]

It's a bit odd being in New Zealand...

 

Thanks for the interesting post; it's always nice to get the view from on the ground.

 

As it happens, last night I was catching up on some back issues of New Scientist and read an interesting article about Michael Baker who devised NZ's coronavirus strategy and the lockdown hard and lockdown fast approach.

[dbuckley]

Even our usually useless media managed to discover Michael Baker, here's a quite lovely piece. Of course, because of the speed at which all this has happened, this now has to be seen in what is a historical context. It's lunacy; events that have happened this year are "historical context".

[ImagineerTom]

Just out of the PSA webinar about the Arts Council Fund application criteria -

 

We actually tick a lot of their boxes (they give weight to unique business's that take arts to new places so for once being a weird business no-one quite understands is a benefit) which is good for us but it is very very clear from the application questions they have announced so far this fund is intended to keep venues mothballed and ready to re-open and not support smaller business's or suppliers. Being a rental company with the usual stock would actually count against you because by definition you going under wouldn't result in artists being unable to rent that kit from /someone/ . There's also very specific guidance that the funds are to support your paired down business costs only through the stated period (so if you're not putting on a show, you can't claim funding for hiring kit or paying freelancers, only the cost of mothballing the venue or marketing new shows when you re open) and only to plug the gap between the revenue earned and the cost to provide.

 

Aside from financial questions there's a lot of essay writing required where you have to prove your cultural importance, your uniqueness, how you directly support artists and the diversity and ecological benefits to your local community from your survival

 

Finally, with all these caveats you can only apply if you're an incorporated business with solvent trading history and that even after making all the cost savings possible you still have an operating loss of £50k or more over the 6 month funding window.

 

I'm quite sure some suppliers and subcontractors will have a go at making a submission but the funding criteria and questions have definitely been written for the basis of saving important venues and unique suppliers rather than supporting the (much more vital) broader industry.

[Junior8]

The venue I used to help out at is hoping to reopen soon. I wish them good luck but after reading the restrictions etc which will be in place I do wonder who in their right mind would want to access live entertainment in this way, temperature checks or not. As it is it's clear that few are booking seats in the restricted occupancy seating plan. They realise of course that an evening out as a social occasion is impossible and many have been taking great care since March anyway. Sadly looking at the reality I really don't see either a) the point or b) how it will ever pay. I am very sad about this but I think there is a lack of realism amongst both the paid staff and the trustees. Mothballing would be eminently more sensible than what they are thinking of doing and I'm afraid the Trustees will sooner or later have to live up to their responsibilities and let the staff go. They really will, I fear, have little or nothing to do. Edited August 7, 2020 by Junior8

[Ynot]

Just out of the PSA webinar about the Arts Council Fund application criteria -

I missed this - was going to attend. :(

Have they published a link to a recorded version? Have searched but not found one yet...

 

 

 

 

[ImagineerTom]

I'm not saying that Grantium is a badly designed system but literally the first question you have to answer is "how much are you applying for" whilst the forms, tables & equations you have to use to calculate what that figure is are 6 pages in....

[Ynot]

I'm not saying that Grantium is a badly designed system but literally the first question you have to answer is "how much are you applying for" whilst the forms, tables & equations you have to use to calculate what that figure is are 6 pages in....

One of my trustees and another committee member have gone through the criteria far more than I have (so far) and have concluded that it's probably NOT going to be worth us applying as they don't believe we're eligible - partly because of the min £50k limit. Whilst throwing that amount at us would be great, it could be hard to justify.

 

I'll be delving soon as I can get the time, just to see.

 

 

 

[kerry davies]

may just help some of you.

 

Arts Council England have kindly offered to host a webinar next week, which will be very relevant for members seeking project grants below the £50,000 threshold of the Culture Fund.

The webinar is on Weds 19th August, from 14:00 - 15:30

Hosts: Harry McIver & Aakash Bharania (Arts Council England)

Link to webinar:

Don't shoot me if it is no good to anyone.

[dbuckley]

And.... after a hundred odd days, it's all just gone wrong. We've had a change in our alert status, which now means gatherings are limited to 100 people.

 

Local theatre has a comedian (Ben Hurley, for those that know him) booked for a show on Saturday, it's a bit over 300 seats, so they're hastily rearranging the booking into three bookings at 5pm, 7pm, and 9pm, at less than 100 folks apiece.

 

Now, the real kicker is that there is an alert level update scheduled at (I think) 5pm Friday...

 

Edit: why can't I see spelling errors until after the preview has been committed?

Edited August 14, 2020 by dbuckley

[Ynot]

We've had a change in our alert status, which now means gatherings are limited to 100 people.

Have I missed something in the latest update? I haven't seen any change from the 30 max...

Not that that makes an awful lot of difference - we're also looking at comedy nights as one of the few things we might be able to host IF the distancing rules drop to 1m in enclosed spaces (which I can't see happening any time soon) but even then we'd struggle.

[J Pearce]

Name: David Buckley

Location: North Canterbury, New Zealand

 

;)

 

Also worth noting new advice is available at the government portal regarding the new 'performances allowed with social distancing' announcement.

Edited August 14, 2020 by J Pearce

[Junior8]

Try opening economically after reading that lot. At the permitted safe capacity my old venue will take £540 at a £15 ticket - that's if they sell the lot. For the first live show on Sept 2nd they have so far taken £24 in bookings. The £10000 save the place appeal launched a month ago has made less than a grand so far. Yet no one seems to be willing to face up to the grim reality. I am very sorry for the employees, I know them all well, but the numbers and the calendar are working relentlessly against them. The place would have to take £400 a day just to pay the staff costs and another £145 to pay the utilities bills. Edited August 14, 2020 by Junior8

[Ynot]

Name: David Buckley

Location: North Canterbury, New Zealand

:D :D Whoops!! :P

Didn't look at the poster......

 

 

 

 

[Brian]

Interesting views from the experts now about how reliable temperature checks are as a way of detecting someone's health. Especially as it now looks like you are most infectious in the day or so before you notice any symptoms.

[Junior8]

As with many viruses which is how they work of course. Nothing new here.