‘The game-changer we need’: Reaction to £1.5bn rescue package for arts venues
Kwame Kwei-Armah, artistic director of the Young Vic, said: “When we heard last night, we slept for the first time since March. It is a real vindication that we have been listened to and that the government understand that we were dying on our knees and also that we are an important part of our country’s recovery.”
Lord Lloyd-Webber said the news is “truly welcome at a time when so many theatres, orchestras, entertainment venues and other arts organisations face such a bleak future”.
Caroline Norbury, chief executive of the Creative Industries Federation and Creative England, said: “Our creative industries are teetering on the brink of cultural collapse – and this could be the game-changer we need,” she said, adding that the support for freelancers in the sector is “particularly heartening”.
Tracy-Ann Oberman, the former EastEnders actor tweeted: “Thank you RishiSunak and to all theatre audiences who wrote to MPs and went out of their way to say that all arts were important to them. It will repay multi times over.”
Armando Iannucci hailed the funding on Twitter as “good news … Won’t solve everything but it’s a very positive development.”
Jo Stevens, Labour’s shadow culture secretary, said: “I do wonder what took the government so long … the big things will be how quickly it’s going to get to people, (and) how is it going to be spread around the country in towns and small cities, (where) arts and culture venues are so valuable to local economies.”
