Culture, the Arts and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Five Cultural Capitals in Search of Solutions January 2021
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Culture, the Arts and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Five Cultural Capitals in Search of Solutions January 2021 A study by Helmut K. Anheier, Janet Merkel and Katrin Winkler Artwork courtesy of Emilia Birlo A research project kindly supported by the Allianz Kulturstiftung 1 Table of contents Culture, the Arts and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Five Cultural Capitals in Search of Solutions ..................................................... 4 Approach ................................................................................................................ 6 Overview ................................................................................................................. 9 Berlin .......................................................................................................... 11 Cultural Policy in Berlin ......................................................................................... 12 The City-State of Berlin ......................................................................................... 12 Representation of the Federal Government ........................................................... 13 Berlin’s Boroughs .................................................................................................. 14 Berlin’s Response to COVID-19 ............................................................................. 16 Impact of COVID-19 .............................................................................................. 19 Assessing Berlin’s Cultural Policy Response .......................................................... 21 Policy Recommendations for Berlin: ..................................................................... 27 London .........................................................................................................31 Cultural Policy in London ...................................................................................... 32 London’s Response to COVID-19 .......................................................................... 38 Impact of COVID-19 .............................................................................................. 41 Assessing London’s Cultural Policy Response ....................................................... 42 Policy Recommendations for London: .................................................................. 48 New York .....................................................................................................51 Cultural Policy in New York ................................................................................... 52 New York’s Response to COVID-19 ....................................................................... 58 Impact of COVID-19 .............................................................................................. 60 Assessing New York’s Cultural Policy Response .................................................... 62 Policy Recommendations for New York: ............................................................... 66 Paris ............................................................................................................ 69 Cultural Policy in Paris ........................................................................................... 70 Paris’ Response to COVID-19 ................................................................................ 74 2 Impact of COVID-19 ............................................................................................... 77 Assessing Paris’ Cultural Policy ............................................................................. 79 Policy Recommendations for Paris: ...................................................................... 83 Toronto ....................................................................................................... 86 Cultural Policy in Toronto ..................................................................................... 87 Toronto’s Response to COVID-19 ......................................................................... 92 Impact of COVID-19 .............................................................................................. 95 Assessing Toronto’s Cultural Policy Response ...................................................... 97 Policy Recommendations for Toronto: ................................................................ 101 Culture and the Pandemic: Initial Insights and Implications ........................... 103 Common Challenges ............................................................................................ 103 How did Cities Respond? ...................................................................................... 105 What are the Issues? ............................................................................................ 107 Lessons Learned and Implications ....................................................................... 110 Towards Greater Resilience ................................................................................. 115 Works Cited ................................................................................................ 118 Personal Communication ............................................................................. 152 About the Authors ...................................................................................... 153 3 Culture, the Arts and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Five Cultural Capitals in Search of Solutions ABSTRACT. Prolonged restrictions on public life and the closure of many cultural activities during the COVID- 19 pandemic affected urban cultural ecosystems profoundly. Cities worldwide responded to this challenge with a variety of policy measures. Yet how do the cultural policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic compare across major cultural capitals, and what have been the experiences so far? Which cultural policy developments and frameworks helped or hindered their responses? How did the various governance arrangements affect cultural policy agendas and strategies during the crisis? In this study, we review the cultural policy responses of Berlin, London, New York, Paris and Toronto during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of their respective governance capacities. Specifically, we seek to identify initial insights and lessons learned for more effective and resilient urban cultural policies in future. The current COVID-19 pandemic poses severe challenges to culture and the arts in cities around the world. In some places, it threatens the very survival of local cultural infrastructures and the careers of many artists and cultural workers. Social distancing measures, and the resulting closure of art institutions and the suspension of cultural events, have impacted the sector in profound ways. Alongside the tourism and the hospitality industry, the entire cultural ecosystem1 is one of the fields most affected by the pandemic (Montalto et al., 2020). For example, by November 2020, the economic loss for arts and culture in the United States already amounted to $14.5 billion (Americans for the Arts, n.d.). Within this situation, large metropolitan areas have taken on a special role. As both hubs of concentrated and innovative cultural practice, as well as densely populated areas that have historically been more susceptible to disease transmission, they have a special burden to bear (Florida et al., n.d.). In Paris, for instance, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a substantial temporary urban exodus, with 1.2 million residents leaving the city when public life was closed and when many education sites and workplaces moved online (Untersinger, 2020). In short, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the social fabric of cities within a short period of time and did so with profound implications for the cultural system. This report explores how five internationally recognized cultural capitals – Berlin, London, Paris, Toronto and New York City – responded to this crisis between March and late summer 2020, a period now referred to as the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Examining the governance capacities of larger cities is important, as they have specialized cultural policies that are to varying degrees independent from those of regional and national governments. We have therefore 1 We use the term “cultural ecosystem” or “cultural system” for short to refer to the set of people (e.g., artists, producers, etc.), organizations (museums, theatres etc.), events (festivals, performances) and institutions (arts education) that are part of cultural as well as artistic production, distribution, presentation and consumption. It includes other terms like cultural economy, creative industry or the arts and culture scene. 4 selected these five cities not only because they are major cultural capitals, but also because they differ significantly in their governance and policy approaches to arts and culture, which we already highlighted in a previous study (Merkel, 2015). Based on an update of this study, which considers the objectives, resources, activities and programs of each city, we address three central questions: . How did policymakers and representatives of major cultural institutions and networks respond to the COVID-19 challenge? What measures were taken, when, by whom and for what purposes? . What have been the results so far, and what have been some of the major achievements and weaknesses? What opportunities for reform and innovations present themselves, and what are the main challenges ahead? . What lessons can be drawn from each case in terms of best practices;