The Economic, Social, and Cultural impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Independent Arts Workers in the United Kingdom

新冠肺炎威胁着表演艺术；事实证明，关闭剧院和禁止公共集会在经济上给英国乃至全世界的表演艺术行业造成了毁灭性的打击。这场疫情引发了一系列以行业为主导的战略，旨在缓解经济后果，并在社交距离中提高受众吸引力。新冠肺炎已经影响了该行业的各个层面，但对占英国行业劳动力60%的自由职业者--独立艺术工作者(IAWS)--构成了生死存亡的威胁(欧盟2017年劳动力调查)。这场危机使人们关注到IAWS脆弱的工作条件、经济可持续性、心理健康和社区支持网络。IAW经常被行业和研究人员忽视，然而正是它们的先见之明使它们成为适应能力的先锋，负责该部门的关键创新。事实可能会证明，法律法规对于该行业在后新冠肺炎时代的重生至关重要。有必要调查新冠肺炎对国际戏剧协会的影响，以及行业内为克服这些影响而开发的广泛的创意解决方案。收集“稳健、实时的数据”来调查新冠肺炎对英国戏剧业潜在的财务、文化和社会长期影响的压力越来越大。这一大流行对IAWS的影响特别复杂和广泛。TRG Art的一项调查显示，60%的IAW预计他们的收入将在2020年减半以上，而50%的人已经100%取消了他们的工作。来自TRG艺术和剧院信托的行业研究人员已经启动了调查，考察新冠肺炎对商业场馆和国家投资组合组织的财务影响，但对于IAWS的后果(例如。除收入损失和项目取消数据外，还包括演员、导演、制片人、编剧、戏剧制作人、技术人员)和规模较小的中小企业。2020年5月，皇家宫廷剧院的维姬·费瑟斯通表示，支持庞大的自由职业者和个体户劳动力的重要性，她认为这一群体已经被这个行业“视为理所当然”。我们的研究填补了这一空白，不仅捕捉和分析了新冠肺炎对经济的影响，而且还捕捉和分析了由国际妇女联合会引起的社会和文化变革。我们将比较英格兰、威尔士、北爱尔兰和苏格兰的地区反应，以及不同种族和社会经济群体的差异。我们的目标是记录和调查新冠肺炎对IAWS的影响，找出该行业的不平等现象，调查后新冠肺炎时代产生的工作类型的变化，并帮助制定该行业如何从这场危机中向前迈进的战略。我们将调查新冠肺炎的财务后果与行业生存的创造性战略之间的联系，包括社会支持网络、艺术场所和IAW之间的沟通倡议，以及疫情爆发后混合媒体作品的发展。我们的研究仔细研究了新冠肺炎对IAW的经济、文化和社会影响，以及为他们服务的组织，目的是为行业复苏战略提供信息。

COVID-19 threatens the performing arts; closures of theatres and outlawing of public gatherings have proven financially devastating to the industry across the United Kingdom and, indeed, the world. The pandemic has sparked a wide range of industry-led strategies designed to alleviate financial consequences and improve audience capture amidst social distancing. COVID-19 has affected all levels of the sector but poses an existential threat to freelancers--Independent Arts Workers (IAWs)--who make up 60% of industry workforce in the UK (EU Labour Force Survey 2017). The crisis has put a spotlight on the vulnerable working conditions, economic sustainability, mental wellbeing, and community support networks of IAWs. IAWs are often overlooked by the industry and researchers, however it is their very precarity that makes them pioneers of adaptability responsible for key innovation within the sector. IAWs may prove essential for the industry's regrowth post-COVID-19. An investigation is necessary into the impact of COVID-19 on IAWs and the wide-ranging creative solutions developing within the industry to overcome them.There has been increasing pressure to gather 'robust, real-time data' to investigate the financial, cultural, and social potential long-term consequences of COVID-19 on the UK theatre industry. The impact of the pandemic on IAWs is particularly complex and wide-ranging. A TRG Arts survey stated that 60% of IAWs predict their income will 'more than halve in 2020' while 50% have had 100% of their work cancelled. Industry researchers from TRG Arts and Theatres Trust have launched investigations examining the financial impact of COVID-19 on commercial venues and National Portfolio Organisations, but there has been insufficient research into the consequences for IAWs (eg. actors, directors, producers, writers, theatre makers, technicians) and the smaller SMEs beyond income loss and project cancellation data. In May 2020, Vicky Featherstone of the Royal Court Theatre, stated the importance of support for the 'massive freelance and self-employed workforce' she believed has been 'taken for granted' by the industry. Our study fills this gap by capturing and analysing not only the economic impact, but the social and cultural transformations caused by COVID-19 by and for IAWs. We will compare regional responses across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland as well as variations across racial and socio-economic groups. Our aims are to document and investigate the impact of COVID-19 on IAWs, identify inequalities in the sector, investigate changes in the type of work produced post-COVID-19, and help develop strategies for how the sector can move forward from this crisis. We will investigate connections between the financial consequences of COVID-19 and creative strategies for industry survival including social support networks, communication initiatives between arts venues and IAWs, and the development of mixed-media work in the wake of the pandemic. Our study scrutinizes the economic, cultural, and social impact of COVID-19 on IAWs and the organisations that serve them with the aim of informing strategies for sector recovery.