Recalibration and compassion – an open letter to our sector

So much has been written about the current and possible future impacts of the pandemic on the arts and cultural sector in the past few months, is there anything that a consulting firm like Positive Solutions can add to the discussion?  Or is the best policy to stay quiet until the dust has settled on this extraordinary and painful period – knowing that many of our colleagues in the arts are hurting and are dogged by uncertainty.  I’ll go half-way – say something, but keep it short.

While the news coverage inevitably bundles up our sector as ‘the arts’, the dynamics and economics of this sector vary greatly from one corner to another. Nature of the artform, levels of earned revenue, legal structure, operation within or independent from government, degree of support from the private sector and committed philanthropists – all of these have played out in the impacts on individual organisations. They have thrown into relief the concept of resilience, especially since earlier discussion around resilience and sustainability occurred against a fairly stable backdrop of funding and marketplace.  But what seemed fairly stable 6 or 12 months ago now seems anything but.  It is possible the industry will slowly re-emerge in similar form to its-pre-COVID state, minus some organisations who just cannot make it through, and some artists who leave the sector – though goodness knows where to in the middle of a recession.  It seems more likely that the distance between major and small-to-medium will be enhanced; that traditional patterns of consumption – sales, touring, exhibiting – will be re-shaped, and probably reduced; that there will be imaginative developments in digital presence and reach – but with few able to secure a strengthened financial position from this investment.  Against this, it is also possible that appreciation of the instrumental value of the arts will be significantly enhanced – arts in health and mental health, arts in education, arts in community cohesion, place-making and capacity-building. So – an economically weakened but more highly valued sector.

Through this period of great hardship we are witnessing the immense skill of our peers – the creative problem solving, people management, leadership, stewardship and humanity.  Perhaps through this age of recalibration there will be opportunity to hone new skills, develop new partnerships, and new ways of working.  But it is tough carving out the positives in such a straitened world – especially for those in Melbourne’s and Victoria’s lockdowns.  Our thoughts are with you.

In this changing environment the role of consultants like Positive Solutions, and other advisers, is to help with strategy and the research needed to inform it, with re-engineering, with affirmation of chosen paths where appropriate and – in some cases – to assist with alliances, mergers and wind-ups. The arts are not alone in facing these choices and opportunities.  But never has so much depended upon ingenuity, creative thinking and compassion.

With care,

David Fishel
Director, Positive Solutions

Banner Image: Julius Popp bit.fall 2001–06, Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), Hobart, Tasmania.