The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) and UK Theatre have released a pre-election briefing for all parliamentary candidates ahead of the General Election on July 4th. As well as declaring how the groups will be working throughout the election period, they have called on all candidates from all political parties to commit to their requests to facilitate theatre for the communities of the country the candidates hope to serve.
In a post earlier today, the two bodies said: “Theatres are economic powerhouses and sources of transformative social good, embedded in communities up and down the country. To achieve our full potential, the theatre sector needs the right fiscal and policy conditions to thrive. Costs are rising for our sector faster than revenue, which poses significant challenges”. Releasing a General Election guide and template letter for candidates, their pre-election briefing contains two requests: to invest in children’s access to live theatre, and to invest in cultural capital infrastructure.
The short candidate briefing, coming in at only three pages in length, sets out the contribution theatre makes to the economy and community, highlighting how the sector “generates £2.39 billion in GVA and supports 205,000 workers”, as well as how “for every £1 spent on a theatre ticket, an additional spend of £1.40 is generated in local economies”. It also acknowledges how interconnected the various parts of the theatrical industry are linked, “with cooperation and co-dependence increasing recently due to rising costs and the response to the pandemic “.
The two policies proposed by Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre have each been broken down into the ask and the need, as well as not only costings, but the support the policies have already achieved and how each priority could be delivered. This includes an estimated £34 million yearly governmental investment to ensure every child visits a theatre before they leave school and a range of proposed ideas for ensuring the two policies can be implemented.
Following this pre-briefing, Forge Press contacted the publicly-known candidates at the time of writing for the Sheffield constituencies (Penistone & Stocksbridge, Sheffield Brightside & Hillsborough, Sheffield Central, Sheffield Hallam, Sheffield Heeley and Sheffield South East) for their thoughts on the published policies and whether they would commit to working on them should they be elected. Hannah Nicklin, the Green Party parliamentary candidate for Sheffield South East told Forge Press “My position is…enhanced by my direct experience of the UK creative industries. Not only the theatre sector but also the new media and video games sectors. I am deeply committed personally to the need for capital investment into theatres, means of getting children and young people into theatre spaces (I myself was a beneficiary of the era of ‘free tickets for under 25s’ which, when I lived on a maintenance grant in Birmingham made a massive difference to my time there)”.
“But I would also add to that that theatre and arts buildings are nothing without artists. There’s a huge sector problem with matching (much needed) capital investment with investment in reducing the precarity of theatre and arts practitioners; early career artists, mid career, and mature artists all need different and targeted support in order to make sure that our arts sector is not solely populated by and made for the privileged…The policy suggestions you outline are ones I would support and lobby for but I would add a third which would be better developing support for the most precarious workers in the arts, and those who typically don’t benefit from capital investment”.
With the Cost-of-Living Crisis and Covid-19 implications still wreaking havoc on the theatre industry and the increasing incidences of small and independent venues closing, it is more important than ever that those vying to become national policy-makers hold theatre as a crucial industry, especially those who represent theatrical and cultural hotspots, such as Sheffield. With not all candidates yet confirmed and party manifestos still under wraps, we will await the campaign to see what the national parties offer, and whether any local candidates are willing to speak out for our creative industries.
Read the full pre-election candidate briefing here. All confirmed candidates with publicly available contact details for the Sheffield constituencies have been contacted for comment. The 2024 U.K. General Election will take place on July 4th
