London’s art world reacts to tier 3: ‘we are seriously thinking about lobbying the government’

Alastair Smart 17 December 2020 1:09pm GMT This Wednesday, as London entered Tier 3 restrictions, the city’s gyms, saunas, hairdressers and tattoo parlours remained open. But the city’s

public museums and art galleries were forced to close their doors. “There’s a long list of places that are allowed to stay open, and it’s both saddening and inexplicable that we aren’t on

it”, says Jane Alison, Head of Visual Arts at the Barbican. “Galleries have worked incredibly hard this year to ensure our venues are safe. We could be open – and _should _be open. As a

sector, I believe we now have to start seriously thinking about lobbying the government to change our status”.    The Barbican Art Gallery was closed during the year’s two national

lockdowns: from March to July, and from November 5 until December 2. Now, with London in Tier 3 local lockdown, the doors are closed once more – indefinitely. “In the spring, when Covid-19

was still new and little understood, galleries – like everyone else in society – were grappling with the complexity of the situation. Things are different now. We’re aware of the measures

needed to put on art exhibitions in a time of pandemic”. These measures include the use of face coverings and hand sanitiser, as well as limits to the number of visitors in a gallery at any

one time. (For its current exhibition, dedicated to the dancer and choreographer Michael Clark, the Barbican has been welcoming just 25 per cent of its visitor capacity.) Iwona Blazwick,

Director of the Whitechapel Gallery nearby, speaks of a “weariness” at the constant opening and closing. “The thing about art exhibitions is that you’re not in a congregation, as you are in

a concert, opera or play. “You don’t have to sit in a confined space. You experience an exhibition on your own, with the benefit of free movement in what – in the Whitechapel's case –

are big, airy spaces”.   One third of the Whitechapel’s funding comes from government (next up for renewal in 2023); one third comes from donors and patrons; and another third comes from the

gallery’s earnings (through ticket sales, takings from its bookshop and restaurant, plus the hiring out of rooms for private functions). That final third disappears completely during

lockdown. “With the loss of earnings, it leaves us looking over the edge of a cliff financially,” says Blazwick. She adds, though, that the Cultural Recovery Fund (CRF), introduced by

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden in July, has been “a vital lifeline, for which the Whitechapel is immensely grateful”. In the autumn, Blazwick announced that the gallery had received an

award of £534,000. She hasn’t had to make any of its 65 staff redundant. “That money has made us financially viable,” she says. “Without it, we’d have been venturing into unsustainable

waters.” Another positive is that income from donors and patrons has remained steady. However, with the economic forecast for 2021 looking gloomy, that may not last. Just as there’s no

guarantee of a further CRF handout next year.  “We’re pinning hopes on the vaccination programme and that a semblance of normality will return by late spring,” Blazwick says. With the

gallery closed for long periods, she and her team have worked hard to improve the Whitechapel’s digital offering. In October they launched both a podcast series and a season of live,

artist-led events; as well as a link-up with Bloomberg on an app called Bloomberg Connects, offering an interactive guide to the gallery and its shows. Blazwick says this is partly a way of

showing donors that, even in lockdown, the gallery is alive with activity – and thus still deserving of their support.       Back over at the Barbican, finances aren’t so much of an issue.

At least not in the short-to-medium term. The venue’s principal funder, the City of London Corporation, has guaranteed its financial underpinning until April 2022 – “by which time we hope to

be out the other side of the Covid crisis,” Alison says.      The pennies still count, though. Four of Alison’s team of 30 at the gallery are on furlough, and the Barbican relies on the

income from ticket sales to help fund as expansive a programme as possible. Next year’s schedule includes a major retrospective on the Art Brut pioneer, Jean Dubuffet, for example – a show

that had originally been scheduled to open in September 2020.  “Beyond money, there’s also the matter of the enormous appetite for culture that exists, and the respite and inspiration that

an exhibition can provide people in difficult times such as this. All of which is currently being denied”. Does Alison mean what she says about lobbying the government? “Nobody’s a winner

right now… Watch this space”.