Sam Mendes
Theatre Artists Fund

Theatre and film director Mendes spearheaded the launch of the Theatre Artists Fund to support freelancers. It was set up in July with a £500,000 donation from Netflix. By the end of that month, it had raised £1.6 million, which was distributed among 1,600 theatremakers. The fund, administered by SOLT’s sister charity Theatre Development Trust, raised a further £1.9 million by the end of August, with support from Arts Council England.

Francesca Moody, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Olivia Colman
Fleabag Support Fund

Producer Moody and Waller-Bridge streamed the Fleabag stage show on Amazon and Soho Theatre on Demand, raising more than £1 million for charities supporting those affected by the crisis. They set up the Fleabag Support Fund in partnership with the Royal Theatrical Fund to give crisis grants to freelancers no longer able to work. With Colman, they established the Theatre Community Fund, raising a further £1 million for theatre professionals. Moody also conceived and produced the Shedinburgh Fringe Festival, selling 4,500 tickets.

Anna Saunders
Not on the West End

After West End musical 9 to 5 shut, along with the rest of theatre, its wardrobe deputy Saunders was inspired to support her fellow freelance theatremakers. She started posting messages on her Instagram account highlighting handmade items for sale by out-of-work creatives. It grew and grew, and the Not on the West End website now has 400 people signed up to be featured. What’s more, Saunders took no cut of the proceeds, with her only income coming from donations via her site.

John Studzinski
Genesis Foundation

In October, the Genesis Foundation set up a £1 million fund offering opportunities and income to struggling freelancers. At the launch, the foundation revealed that the Genesis Kickstart Fund would back projects commissioned by a panel including Rupert Goold and Kwame Kwei-Armah. Studzinski set up Genesis almost two decades ago and it has since donated £20 million to the arts. In July, it also set up a £100,000 emergency fund for freelance artists.

Spotlight on... Luke Barnes, Bryony Kimmings and Amahra Spence

One of the things that stood out amid the turbulent early days of the first lockdown in March was a proliferation of small acts of kindness and generosity.

Covid-19 made glaringly clear how precarious life in the industry is for many, how little security there is even without a pandemic to contend with. As theatres shut their doors, festivals were postponed and tours cancelled, many freelance theatremakers suddenly found themselves out of work with no idea of when they would next be employed. It was other artists – those who understood that precariousness and urgency of the situation all too well – who moved swiftly to offer their support.

Across the country, a series of independent, localised initiatives were set up to offer financial assistance to the people who needed it. Playwright Luke Barnes was one of the first to act. His campaign to support Liverpool-based artists was launched on March 14 and exceeded its initial target of £2,000 to create 10 hardship funds of £200, raising more than £6,000. Though relatively financially secure himself, this had not always been the case, and he knew if the same thing had happened a few years ago he would have really struggled. This drove him to take action.

Performance artist Bryony Kimmings also decided to do something to support theatremakers, offering some of her own money, and calling on others to do the same if they could. Using the hashtag #GigAid, established artists were paired with emerging artists who were struggling. The scheme was a success and more than £30,000 was raised. The scale of the success was such that performance artist Brian Lobel came on board to help with the administration and there was a second funding round in April.

Similar crowdfunded schemes soon sprang up in Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Hull, Newcastle and other locations around the country. Amahra Spence raised more than £10,000 through West Midlands Art Emergency, the fund she set up. Later in the year, she would open Yard, an artists’ space in the Port Loop neighbourhood of Birmingham with Maia, the company she co-founded with Amber Caldwell.

These hardship funds were a life raft for people who had seen their income evaporate. These schemes also used social media, which can be polarising and toxic, as a tool for positivity, spreading the message both to those in need and those who were able to donate. For a while, Twitter became an arena of solidarity and support.

While the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme may have saved many salaried jobs, a lot of freelancers fell through the cracks. The scheme demonstrated a lack of understanding of the realities of people’s working lives in the arts and other sectors. These small grassroots schemes, established by individuals, were able to act quickly, on the understanding that people often have no savings to fall back on but still have rent to pay. They were acts of kindness and compassion in a time of crisis and uncertainty – an example of the industry at its best.