This is a difficult year for our arts organisations, as well as for everyone else coping with the pandemic.  Theatres, museums, exhibition centres and properties owned by organisations such as the National Trust and English Heritage have been unable to open their doors to the public.   This has deprived the general public of the chance to experience cultural opportunities which feed our imagination and take us outside our normal daily existence, but it has also starved many arts organisations of much-needed cash in what was already a challenging fight for survival in a time of austerity.

Saturday night’s live TV broadcast of The Last Night of the Proms from the Royal Albert Hall was a reflection of the current challenges for the performing arts in a Covid-19 climate.  Firstly, the number of performers was hugely reduced with only 18 of the BBC Singers safely spaced around the auditorium, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra fielded only 65 out of approximately 300 performers.  Sadly, one of the soloists had to withdraw at the last minute because of illness, but her replacement, violinist Nicola Benedetti, provided a stunning highlight to the evening’s music with her ethereal performance of The Lark Ascending – hearing that was definitely food for the soul!  There was no live audience in the venue which gave a very different feel to the concert, but perhaps encouraged us to focus more on the music without any distractions.

Last week I read in an article that even the Royal Albert Hall, which is one of the busiest music venues in the world, is in danger of going bust by next year with a shortfall of many millions of pounds.  When we think about our own local cultural venues, it doesn’t require much imagination to worry about how our own theatres, museums and churches will manage to survive.  And yet in this time of prolonged restrictions because of lockdown with its huge impact on our mental well-being, the arts could offer a practical pathway to our better mental and physical health.

Here at St Mary’s we have received no income from all the usual bookings and events which have had to be cancelled since March. And there has been additional expenditure to cope with further challenges such as flooding and the safety measures we have put in place to open our doors again to protect the public from coronavirus.  Perhaps those of us in a position to do so might consider re-allocating some of the money we didn’t spend on petrol during the lockdown to make a donation to some of the charitable organisations which will struggle to survive 2020. Otherwise they might not still exist or be able to offer sustenance for everyone’s well-being in the coming months and years.

Sarah Bourne, Chaplain for the Arts – 16^th Sept 2020          sarahbourne@banburystmary.org.uk