Theatre figures warn immigration crackdown will 'homogenise' industry's output

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Vault Festival co-founder Andy George and incoming New Diorama artistic director Bec Martin

Industry figures including incoming New Diorama artistic director Bec Martin and Vault Festival co-founder Andy George have warned that a tightening of visa rules will restrict "cross-cultural collaboration" and see work lose out on "foreign influences".

They have been joined by the Society of London Theatre/UK Theatre in criticising the changes, with SOLT/UK Theatre planning to write to the home secretary to raise concerns about the changes this week.

They were reacting to a five-point proposal designed to crack down on thousands of foreign workers.

On Monday, home secretary James Cleverly announced his intention to deliver the biggest ever cut in net migration, with government figures suggesting the proposed rules could prevent 300,000 people moving to the UK each year.

The reforms would hike the minimum salary required for skilled overseas workers from £26,200 to £38,700, with the minimum income for family visas also bumped up from £18,600 to £38,700.

Cleverly also vowed the Conservatives would abandon "cut-price" labour by ending a rule that allows industries displaying shortage occupations to pay 20% less than the going rate for overseas workers.

Both Martin and George argued that very few arts workers would be able to hit the £38,700 threshold. Martin said the adjustments "would be so limiting to cross-cultural collaboration" in a sector only "just beginning to recover" from the pandemic.

Martin, who will succeed outgoing artistic director David Byrne in January, told The Stage that one of her "big goals" for the next five years was to promote international collaboration, but said the government’s "heartbreaking" plans to limit foreign workers "puts the kibosh on anyone coming across to work freelance".

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Speaking to The Stage following the Vault’s announcement it would open a permanent London base next year, George said: "A lot of the approach from this government seems to suit the finance and tech industry – but so much is gained from people who aren’t earning £38,000 a year.

"I don’t know what the benefit of this policy is and, coming on top of Brexit, we’re going to lose out as an industry."

He continued: "Post-Brexit, there’s definitely a danger that we lose out on foreign influences, particularly across Europe. In this country, we may start to see more traditional formats and everything could become a little bit more homogenous and similar in form and content."

George affirmed that Vault will continue to work "really hard to support international artists" and said the question of migration will gain "more of our focus and attention" as the issue develops.

However, he suggested many arts organisations will find it increasingly difficult to engage with foreign-born artists, due to increased levels of "bureaucracy".

George reflected: "This industry is propped up by freelancers, but no one will want to do the necessary paperwork for someone to come to the UK and do a two-week run."

One director and producer from a migrant-centric theatre company, who did not wish to be named, asked: "How can the UK expect to hold its own on the global stage when it is so resistant to international work?"

They added: "Although government bodies like Arts Council England constantly cite their desire to ’create world-leading art’, there seems to be no investment in taking steps to ensure this happens, especially in government policies that are hostile to migrants."

Playwright Dominique La Victoria said it was essential for new "systems of theatre" to "weave" into the UK, to prevent the increasing inflexibility of received norms. She said: "Cutting migration will just make the UK even more of an island to the international theatre community than it already is."

Meanwhile, Mark Banks, professor of cultural economy at the University of Glasgow, said the policy "couldn’t come at a worse time for UK theatre".

He commented: "It is already struggling with the problems caused by an end to freedom of movement and the administrative burdens now placed on touring for both people and goods. There are serious labour shortages in most craft and technical professions that this policy will not help to remedy as it will make it harder to recruit skilled workers from overseas. The drastic increases in the salary threshold for migrant workers will hit theatre hard, given that the average salaries in the sector are already way below this arbitrary benchmark."

In a statement, SOLT and UK Theatre revealed they would be writing to Cleverly this week to raise their concerns over the limitations placed on the skilled worker visa route.

The statement said: "The skilled-worker visa route enables our members to compete internationally to recruit the most highly skilled professional dancers from across the world, earning the UK dance sector – an essential part of the theatre ecosystem – its world-leading status. The ability to access this global talent pool is vital to maintaining this reputation. SOLT and UK Theatre are therefore concerned to learn that the government intends to increase the earning threshold for overseas workers by nearly 50% from its current position of £26,200 to £38,700, due to the detrimental impact it would have on our members’ ability to compete with international companies."

It continued: "To maintain the high artistic and technical standards that UK and international audiences have come to expect, our members only recruit the most talented and highly trained dancers from a global talent pool. These jobs are hard to fill from the resident labour market because only a limited number of dancers worldwide meet the standards of the UK’s leading dance companies. Our members’ world-leading status therefore depends on their ability to compete with international dance companies.

"We’ll be writing to the home secretary to raise our concerns this week."