Pandemic Culture

Based on the findings of a 15-month research project led by the Centre for Cultural Value, this significant new book offers a comprehensive overview of the impacts of Covid-19 on the UK's cultural sector and highlights implications for its future direction.The book provides a summary of the local, regional and national policy responses to the crisis. It offers a rigorous statistical analysis of the impacts of these policy responses and of the pandemic itself on the cultural workforce across the UK and a mixed-methods analysis of audiences' responses to the pandemic. These insights are nuanced and illustrated via detailed case studies of a number of key sub-sectors of the cultural industries (theatre, museums and galleries, screen industries, libraries and festivals) and via an ecosystem analysis of the Greater Manchester city-region. The book identifies and critically reflects on the core, recurrent themes that have emerged from the research and highlights the implications for cultural practitioners, organisations, funders and policymakers as we move into the endemic stage of Covid-19. It advocates for a more equitable and regenerative cultural sector, where freelancers and marginalised cultural workers and audiences are valued and included, and for a more engaged and collaborative approach to cultural sector research to enable to sector to know itself better and adapt to rapid change.