Poll provides path forward for hard-hit arts world

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/09/2020 (2026 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Struggling with the code-orange blues?

Try being one of Manitoba’s many arts and culture groups, museums or galleries that have been surviving on red alert for more than six months amid a raft of postponed or cancelled shows. The short-term lifeline for those organizations will mean a combination of masks, physically distanced shows and an increased focus on donations, a new poll reveals.

The survey, titled the Arts Response Tracking Study, found mask use and physical distancing will be crucial factors for those who are willing to attend either an indoor or outdoor performance or a museum or gallery during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nanos Research conducted the poll for Business / Arts, a charitable organization that aims at partnering Canada’s business and arts communities, and the National Arts Centre.

“What we did see was a marked increase in the citation of masks as a precaution that would help make people more comfortable,” pollster Nik Nanos said in a Zoom webinar last week when announcing the survey’s details.

For those who responded they would be comfortable attending an indoor arts or cultural event immediately, mask use rose to 40 per cent in July from 24 per cent in May. Similar numbers were found for outdoor events (38 per cent versus 27 per cent) and especially for museums and galleries (54 per cent versus 24 per cent).

“One way to think of this is people take guidance from public health authorities. When the public health authorities say that social distancing is important to occur, they respect that,” Nanos said.

“In May, masks were recommended but not compulsory in many instances. Fast-forward to now, we’re in an environment where masks, in most jurisdictions and places, are compulsory in public places indoors.”

On Monday, provincial code-orange restrictions went into effect in Winnipeg and the surrounding area, making mask use in public areas mandatory.

The poll found people’s comfort — or perhaps their discomfort — in returning to the arts has changed little between July 26-30, when the latest Nanos survey was conducted, and May 17-19, when the study began asking questions about pandemic-related issues and the arts.

In May, about one-quarter (26 per cent) of the 1,001 randomly selected Canadians who were surveyed said they would be comfortable in attending an indoor arts performance immediately. In July, after spending two more months coping with the pandemic and its restrictions, only 23 per cent of the 1,094 respondents said they’d be comfortable in showing up at an indoor arts performance.

The statistics for outdoor arts performances (39 per cent would be comfortable in May versus 37 per cent in July) and for visiting a museum or gallery (30 per cent in May versus 29 per cent in July) are similar.

Similar percentages of those questioned in July and in May — between 26 and 38 per cent, depending if the event was held inside or outside — said they wished to wait for a COVID-19 vaccine before they would return to audiences.

In Manitoba, COVID-19 cases were low in the spring and in July the province appeared to have flattened the pandemic curve after going nearly two weeks without a new case being reported. Museums and galleries in Winnipeg had already opened, following provincial regulations on crowd sizes, physical distancing, and later, mask use.

Several arts groups, such as members of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, began performing at outdoor venues and the WSO even “recomposed” its 2020-21 schedule, which will kick off Friday and Saturday at the Centennial Concert Hall before a masked audience of no more than 500 people.

The number of COVID-19 cases began to rise gradually in Manitoba in August and rose even more quickly in September in Winnipeg, prompting Dr. Brent Roussin, the province’s chief public health officer, to issue the code-orange regulations.

The Nanos study also discovered that Canadians intend to donate more to arts and culture organizations in 2021 than they are in 2020 or did in 2019, especially among culture-goers 55 years of age or older. Those polled in that age group said they intend to donate $373 on average in 2021, compared with $179 in 2019 and $173 in 2020.

Many Winnipeg arts groups have shifted their focus to donations over the summer. Links are shown prominently on many arts groups’ websites, urging patrons to help out cash-strapped organizations.

The Winnipeg Foundation, which is funded by donors, launched a multimillion-dollar pandemic stabilization fund in the summer for non-profit and charitable groups.

Local philanthropists have also launched campaigns for arts organizations. Winnipegger Bob Williams has offered up to $500,000 to match donations for the Winnipeg Art Gallery’s nearly completed Inuit Art Centre.

Also a walk-a-thon by Douglas MacEwan, 95-year-old retired radiologist, to support the WSO, the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Manitoba Opera aims to raise $100,000 by Nov. 11.

alan.small@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter:@AlanDSmall