Based on the findings of a 15-month study led by the Centre for Cultural Value, this book offers a comprehensive overview of the impacts of Covid-19 on the UK’s cultural sector. Based on a mixed-methods analysis, it highlights implications for the sector’s future direction and for research in the fields of arts management and cultural policy.

Introduction: Framing mixed-methods analyses of the impact of COVID-19 on the cultural sector - Ben Walmsley, Abigail Gilmore and Dave O’Brien1 Cultural policy and the pandemic: Response and recovery in the United Kingdom - Abigail Gilmore, Sue Hayton, Trevor MacFarlane, John Wright, Ben Dunn and Rachel Johnson2 What happened to the workers? Understanding the impact of the pandemic on jobs and working hours in the cultural sector - Tal Feder, Orian Brook, Rebecca Florisson, Siobhan McAndrew, Dave O’Brien, Gwilym Owen and Mark Taylor3 The same people seeing more: Audiences’ engagement with culture during the COVID-19 pandemic - Oliver Mantell, Anne Torreggiani, Ben Walmsley, Jenny Kidd and Eva Nieto McAvoy4 Pandemic drama: How England’s theatre organisations responded to the COVID-19 pandemic - Karen Gray and Ben Walmsley5 Beyond the digital: Notions of belonging and the impacts of COVID-19 on festivals in Scotland - John Wright6 Collaborative cultural leadership: Northern Ireland’s response to the COVID-19 crisis - John Wright and Ali FitzGibbon7 A question of sustainability: The impact of COVID-19 on the screen sector in Wales - Eva Nieto McAvoy and Ania Ostrowska8 Civic Responsibility in times of crisis: Museums and galleries in northern England during the COVID-19 pandemic - Danielle Child, Karen Gray and Harry Weeks9 Epistemic governance and partnerships in place: An ecosystem analysis of Greater Manchester - Ben Dunn and Abigail GilmoreConclusion: Disruption and continuity in the cultural industries: From pandemic culture to an endemic crisis? - Dave O’Brien, Abigail Gilmore and Ben WalmsleyIndex

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. Pandemic culture provides a detailed summary of 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, as well as a mixed-methods analysis of audiences’ responses to the pandemic. These nuanced insights are illuminated by detailed case studies of key sub-sectors of the arts and culture sector – theatre, museums and galleries, screen industries, libraries and festivals – and through an ecosystem analysis of the Greater Manchester city-region. The book identifies and critically reflects on the core, recurrent themes that emerge, highlighting 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 precarious and marginalised cultural workers and audiences are valued and included, and for a more engaged and collaborative approach to cultural sector research which will enable the sector to know itself better and adapt to rapid change.

“The book is a testament to the expertise and collaborative spirit of its contributors. The diverse backgrounds of the authors allow for a rich, interdisciplinary approach that provides a comprehensive understanding of how the Covid-19 pandemic affected the U.K.’s creative sector. The authors explore the immediate and long-term effects of the pandemic on various cultural sub-sectors and the its broader implications. It is a scholarly yet accessible work that will undoubtedly contribute to the ongoing discourse on cultural policy and management in a post-pandemic world.”Joanna Woronkowicz, Faculty Director, Center for Cultural Affairs, Indiana University