Today's Labour News

GroundUp reports that when the first Covid-19 lockdown was announced in March last year, theatres across the country went dark and a number of them haven’t reopened.

Even before lockdown, theatres were struggling for audiences and now their fate hangs in the balance. “Gatherings – in the case of theatre audiences – are deemed to be super spreaders of the virus, so festivals have been cancelled, theatres shut and curfews have restricted people going out at night, making theatre unviable,” Mike van Graan, who is part of the Sustaining Theatre and Dance (STAND) Foundation that started in September to raise funds for projects that will provide some form of income for people in the sector, pointed out. Unemployed theatre practitioners are struggling to cover basic expenses like rent, school fees and food, while there is also the psychological impact of the closures. Van Graan explained: “Artists are independent contractors rather than ‘employees’ so they are excluded from the benefits made available through the UIF, for example. I think there is a general realisation that we are on our own and we need to take care of ourselves.” Screenwriter, actor and composer Charl-Johan Lingenfelder commented:  “Even though no-one is to blame for our current predicament, many theatre people are blaming themselves for their struggles; feeling abandoned by our government and thus feeling that they are not worthy of support. They doubt their choice of career and many are actually contemplating leaving the theatre industry.” And although the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture has launched the third phase of the Covid-19 Relief Fund to help stabilise the sector, many theatre practitioners feel inadequately supported by the department.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Masego Mafata at GroundUp <https://www.groundup.org.za/article/struggling-theatre-practitioners-feel-abandoned-government/>

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