UK could become 'cultural wasteland' sign over 400 UK's figures in a letter as COVID-19 shuts creative industry

Battling with the coronavirus crisis, now more than 400 high-profile figures from the UKs entertainment industry have signed a letter to the Chancellor and Culture Secretary warning that the country can come become a “cultural wasteland” if something is not done for the creative workers.

Among those guests who have signed are Stephen Fry, Grayson Perry, Nick Cave, Rufus Wainwright, Simon Callow, Anish Kapoor, Meera Syal, Jamie Cullum, Jeremy Deller, Paloma Faith, Johnny Marr, Imogen Heap, Jonathan Pryce, PJ Harvey, Stephen Hough, Katie Melua, Sanjeev Bhaskar and Sophie Dahl.

The letter has been written by the Creative Industries Federation (CIF), the body repping the country’s creative sector. It claims that “more than 50% of creative organisations and professionals have already lost 100% of their income” and that “one in seven creative organisations only have reserves to last until the end of April” while “only half have reserves that will last beyond June”.

As for now, the UK government is helping almost 80% of the the wages of furloughed staff during the crisis and a package of grants and loans, but CIF claims that there are thousands falling through gaps in the schemes.