(Last updated on 29.7.2020)
Crises like the one we are experiencing at this moment, caused by the coronavirus / COVID-19, have also got a significant impact on the lives of self-employed workers. Cultural professionals, many of whom live in an extremely precarious context, will be particularly affected. The cancellation or postponement of cultural initiatives, absolutely necessary to contain the spread of the virus, will have very serious consequences on their lives.
This is a time when we have to rethink our practices, consider our responsibilities (collective and individual, political and of citizenship), find ways to support the sector and show solidarity.
Access Culture will be gathering here information on initiatives and resources made available in different parts of the world.
On this page, you may find: information on measures taken in Portugal and other countries in order to support the sector; resources and orientations; information on campaigns, manifestos and petitions; links to some specific online initiatives; opinion articles and news regarding the pandemia and the sector.
1. Resources and guidelines
Association of Independent Museums (AIM): UK government and sector advice
Association of Children’s Museums (ACM): Resources to Help Guide Your Museum’s Response to Coronavirus
Célia Sousa (ESECS/CRID/CICS.NOVA.IPLeiria/Politécnico de Leiria), Adaptação para escrita simples e com pictogramas das recomendações para visitantes de museus
Centre for Excellence in Universal Design, Online meeting accessibility
CINARS, International Survey On The Impacts of COVID-19 On Performing Arts International Mobility
Colleen Dilenschneider, What Will Make People Feel Safe Attending a Cultural Entity Again?
Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends, Comparative overview: financial measures and COVID-19
Counterpoints Arts, Artists in lockdown
COVID-19 and freelance artists resources
Creating New Futures: Working Guidelines for Ethics & Equity in Presenting Dance & Performance
Creative Scotland, Resource Directory for Covid-19
Culture Counts, Act 2: National Audience Research (UK)
Decision House, ALVA Attractions Recovery Tracker
Direcção Regional de Cultura do Alentejo, Boas práticas para a reabertura de museus, palácios, monumentos, sítios arqueológicos e outros espaços de natureza cultural na região do Alentejo
ECSITE, COVID-19 resources: plans and guidelines for reopening
ECSITE webinar, Audience research and COVID: opportunity or obstacle?
ECSITE webinar, Equity & diversity: supporting an inclusive response to the corona crisis
European Cultural Foundation, Culture of Solidarity
Fun Palaces, Tiny revolutions of connection
HEVA, COVID-19 resilience: Creative Industry Options and Strategies
ICOM, Let’s talk (digital) inclusion
ICOM, How to reach your public remotely
ICOM/OECD, Webinar: impact, innovations and planning for post-crisis
ICOM Portugal, 25 recomendações para a reabertura dos museus
IETM, Performing arts in times of the pandemic: status quo and the way forward
IETM, Live arts in the virtualising world
Ilenia Atzori, Museums re-opening (padlet)
Museums Association, Covid-19: the ethics of contemporary collecting
Museums Association, Public “highly cautious” about returning to museums
Museums Association, Taskforce to support reopening of cultural sector in England
NEMO, Museum lives in post-pandemia (webinar)
Observatório de Políticas de Comunicação e Cultura, Impactos da COVID-19 no
setor cultural português: Resultados preliminares de março de 2020
On the Move: Corona Virus: Resources: Arts, Culture and Cultural Mobility
Shugall Research, Coronavirus Theater Survey
Slover Linett Audience Research, Culture and Community in a Time of Crisis
Slover Linett Audience Research, Key findings from Wave 1
Springboard for the Arts: Principles of ethical cancellation
Springboard for the Arts: Coronavirus/Covid-19 resources for artists
Stéphane Davet, Rosita Boisseau, Brigitte Salino et Sylvain Siclier, Rouvrir les salles selon les préconisations sanitaires du ministère de la culture
Take A Part, NON-Digital Ways of Engaging Creatively in a COVID World
Theresa Machemer, Italy’s Museums Reopen With Vibrating Social-Distancing Necklaces, Limited Admission
UNESCO, Museums around the world in the face of COVID-19
WolfBrown, COVID-19 Audience Outlook Monitor
WolfBrown, Audience Outlook Monitor results
2. Articles and posts
Acesso Cultura, Em que pensas…? (debate summaries in portuguese)
Adele Redmond, Museum freelancers to sector: ‘Fight for us’
Alex Greenberger, Reopening a Museum After Quarantine: See Photos of Temperature Checks, Face Masks and New Systems
Alex Marshall, Will socially distanced rehearsals leave space for good theater?
Alexandra Prado Coelho, Madalena Victorino e Giacomo Scalisi: à procura da resposta “mais humana”
Adrienne Lalli Hills (Wyandotte Nation), #KeepThePeopleDancing: Futures in Digital Engagement
Andrew Anderson, Tomorrow’s World: Classical Music beyond Isolation
Andrew Miller, The other side: resetting the dial for inclusion
Andrew Taylor, Safety, Solvency, Services
António Pedro Lopes, Não estamos todos no mesmo barco
António Pinto Ribeiro, O cultural no mundo que há-de vir
Arlene Dávila, In Memoriam of the Art World’s Romance With Diversity
Artie Vierkant, Flatten the cube: Post-internet art’s lessons for our current crisis and what comes after
Artnews, Museums in Europe at the time of Coronavirus
Atta Tarki , Paul Levy and Jeff Weiss, The Coronavirus Crisis Doesn’t Have to Lead to Layoffs
Beth Ponte, Reabertura cultural além dos protocolos
Brian Hogarth, Code red for the museum education profession
Brian Logan, Comedy’s coronavirus crisis: ‘performers are in deep, deep trouble’
Carlos Moura-Carvalho, Medidas para a cultura em estado de emergência
Cherie Hu, The legal underbelly of livestreaming concerts
Charlotte Higgins, After the war, the arts came back stronger. They can do so again now
Dan Spock, Museums: essential or non-essential?
David Resnicow, Museums Have Moved Online, But They Must Reinvent Themselves to Thrive
Deborah Cullinan, The time for hope and imagination
Deborah Fisher, To Survive the Challenges Ahead, Cultural Institutions Will Need to Redefine the Value of Art. Here’s How They Can Do It
Dennie Palmer Wolf, Teaching artists as essential workers: respect, collaboration and heft
Ellice Engdahl, Empathy-Informed Balance in the Age of Coronavirus and Beyond
Emily Wilson, At this museum, education staff prove more vital than ever during pandemic
Evan Dawson, Learning from experience with isolated audiences in lockdown
Fergus Linehan, Why it’s time to rethink the Edinburgh International Festival
Frances d´Emilio, Uffizi, accustomed to taming crowds, looks to outbreak’s end
François Matarasso, This is what we´re working to protect
François Matarasso, What are we saving and why?
François Matarasso, How can community art continue?
Gareth Harris, L´International museum group commissions artists to make ‘balcony art’
Genevieve Beller, Rebuilding a better theater industry post-pandemic
Gerador, Em cenário de pandemia, as fragilidades da cultura ficam a descoberto
Gerador, O acesso gratuito da cultura online: um problema de sustentabilidade?
Gerador, Acesso à cultura: no (sub)mundo onde as cores têm texturas e os detalhes escapam por entre as mãos
Gonçalo Frota, Inês Nadais e Sérgio C. Andrade, Teatros apostam tudo na rentrée de Setembro – e virão mudados
Hakim Bishara, 13% of Museums Worldwide May Close Permanently Due to COVID-19, Studies Say
Holly Pich, History in the making: how libraries are capturing the pandemic for posterity
Hugo Cruz, O desconfinamento e as decisões para um outro futuro
Ian Youngs, We´re clinging on – Theatre leaders discuss lockdown turmoil
Indigo Holcombe-James, Coronavirus: as culture moves online, regional organisations need help bridging the digital divide
Isabel Salema, Quem são os precários da cultura que podem receber o apoio de 1314 euros?
Jacques Mandelbaum, Coronavirus : les festivals de cinéma cherchent une issue
Jasmine Weber, American Alliance of Museums Asks Congress to Allot $4B for Nonprofit Museums
Jason Porter, Making the case for museum education in the midst of a crisis
Jennifer Stahl, Scared Your Company Might Close? These Artists Have Been Through It, And Have Some Advice
Joan Baldwin, The discomfort you’re feeling
Joan Baldwin, Navigating fear as museum doors open
João Fernandes e Marcelo Araújo, O normal não era normal: que museus queremos depois da pandemia?
João Neto, Esta separação social vai ter de se manter
John Holden, Crises can bring out our best selves: let’s not waste yet another one
Jonathan Knott, Blockbusters could be replaced by collections-based shows after COVID-19 crisis
Jonathan Mandell, Pandemic theater aesthetic
Jorge Silva Melo, Vão abrir teatros. E nós?
Joris Mathieu, Un désirable futur?
Judd Grossman, Michael Straus, Catherine K. B. Lucas, Sarah E. Schuster, What legal rights do artists and galleries have during a pandemic?
Julian Reynolds, The ‘new normal’: will the only artists left be enthusiastic amateurs?
Justin Davidson, What socially distanced live performance might look like
Kate Kellaway, What next for the arts? Rufus Norris and Maria Balshaw swap notes
Kate Meyers Emery, Creative, authentic and united: digital engagement during COVID-19
Laura Collins-Hughes, As Theaters Stare Down Uncertainty, Ars Nova Buys Itself Time
Leah Hamilton, Crisis management: a new approach for arts managers
Liv Nilssen, Turning refunds into donations
Lucinda Canelas e Luís Miguel Queirós, Ministra da Cultura promete “promete resolver de uma vez por todas” estatuto de profissional da cultura
Luís Miguel Queirós, Ver espectáculos de máscara em salas semivazias? “É como ir ao teatro a Saturno”
Lyn Gardner, How Gateshead International Festival of Theatre has avoided cancellation
Madeleine Grynsztejn, In a post-COVID world, what museums do outside their walls will become as important as what they put on them
Manuel Borja-Villel, What Will It Take for Museums to Rise Again—and What They Can Do in the Meantime
Maria Vlachou, The best we can: Re-establishing priorities for arts professionals in
times of crisis
Maria Vlachou, Is this about postponing “business as usual”?
Maria Vlachou, Quarantine readings #2 and a first version of my wishlist
Marina D.J. Barham, Message from Palestine
Matthew Cock, Will it be worth it? The re-opening barriers facing visually impaired people
Museums Association, Coronavirus: How will it affect museums and what can be done to mitigate the impact
Nadja Sayej, The coronavirus museum: how historians are documenting the pandemic
Nina Simon, How Can I Contribute? Four Steps I’m Taking to Figure it Out
Nobl Academy, Strategy and Culture: How to emerge stronger after the COVID crash
Patrícia do Vale, Tudo será instagramável? O museu por reinventar
Patrick Eakin Young, The dawn chorus
Patrick Eakin Young, Bench rest
Peter Maxwell, The rise of the virtual gallery tour: what works and what doesn’t (yet)
Philippe Dagen, Les musées veulent repenser les expositions en se recentrant sur leurs collections
Raja Feather Kelly, Has anyone asked artists what they need
Raquel Vidales, Los teatros alternativos no reabrirán al público al menos hasta septiembre
Reem Kassem, Governance during crisis: a case study from Egypt
Robert Hewison, When this is all over we must reimagine the infrastructure of the arts
Rosita Boisseau, Coronavirus : le monde du cirque inquiet pour son avenir
Rui Tavares, Devemos deixar morrer a cultura que nos ajuda a sobreviver?
Sally Tallant, Notes from the lockdown: Making a situated museum in Queens
Sam Conniff, Too early for optimism
Sam Mendes, How we can save our theatres
Sam Ramos, What Relevance Can Art Have for Frontline Providers Right Now?
Sandro Debono, The empty museum
Sarah Cascone, Just how bad is the lockdown for museums?
Sarah Hemming, The Public Theater’s Oskar Eustis: ‘We’ll go to where you are’
Sari Feldman, Public libraries after the pandemic
Simon Brault, Putting people first: COVID-19 and the Canada Council for the Arts
Simon Brault, Arts and culture in times of solitude and solidarity
Sophie Haigney, When the virus came, some museum directors lost years of work
Stephen Hetherington, After the crisis – a new model for the arts?
Stephen Khan, There is no easy path out of coronavirus for live classical music
Stuart Jeffries, From no deal to New Deal: how Boris Johnson could follow FDR and save the arts
The Incluseum, Equitable Institutional Sustainability In Times Of Crisis
Thomas Rogers, Europe’s museums begin reopening, cautiously, with new rules
Tiago Gueges, Estranha forma de vida
Tiago Rodrigues, Improvavelmente, ser feliz
Tiago Rodrigues, A oportunidade de não aproveitar a falsa oportunidade
Timothy Mangan, Coronavirus conditions make us rethink classical music for decade ahead
Tom Walters, How the coronavirus (COVID-19) is affecting the heritage sector
Valentina di Liscia, As the Art World Shuts Down Over COVID-19, Uncertainty Plagues Hourly Workers
Vânia Rodrigues, O que fazer daqui para trás?
Vânia Rodrigues, A nossa casa está a arder
Vânia Rodrigues e Pedro Quintela, Pandemia e cultura: a urgência de um pensamento lento
Zach Finkelnstein, The Post-Covid Concert Hall Catastrophe: Why Audience Attendance is the Least of Our Problems
Zain Dada, No community spaces? No community arts
3. Measures taken in Portugal
Official message of the Minister of Culture
Ministry of Culture, Cultura Covid-19
Ministry of Culture, Regras de desconfinamento
Direcção-Geral das Artes, Support for the arts
Instituto do Cinema e Audiovisual, Exceptional measures
Madeira Regional Government, Emergency Fund for the Cultural and Artistic Sector in the Autonomous Region of Madera
Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, Fundo de Emergência Social Vertente Cultura
Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, Fundo de Solidariedade para apoiar os profissionais da cultura
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Apoio de emergência aos artistas e à cultura
Fundação Eugénio de Almeida, Apoio à comunidade artística
Fundo de apoio para artistas de Lisboa, uma iniciativa de Anjos 70
Universidade do Minho, O impacto do COVID-19 no sector cultural português
4. Measures taken by governments, public and private bodies in other countries
Argentina, Ministerio de Cultura de la Nación Argentina, Cultura de la solidaridad: programas y líneas de financiamiento para Cultura
Australia: Support Act Wellbeing Helpline expands to include all artists and art workers
Austrália: Government launches $175 million arts and music recovery package
Belgium: Informatie COVID-19
Brazil: ITAU Cultural, Arte como Respiro: múltiplos editais de emergência
Canada: National Arts Centre (Canada) and Facebook will pay musicians for livestreams
Canada: Canada Council for the Arts, COVID-19 updates and measures for artists
Canada: Department of Canadian Heritage, Information for Canadian Heritage grants recipients related to COVID-19
Canadá: Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), Encore!
EUNIC, How is the European cultural sector responding to the current corona crisis (government responses)
European Commission, How the EU responds to the coronavirus outbreak in support of the cultural and creative sectors
Germany, Italy, Spain: Joint letter of the Ministers of Culture, Together we are stronger that the virus
Germany: German Ministry of Culture: €50 bilhões para apoiar artistas e organizações culturais
Germany: Gemany´s Culture Minister and Chief Conductor set up fund for struggling musicians
Support measures for the Romanian cultural sector in response to the COVID-19 crisis
Greece: Greek Ministry of Culture, Measures to enhance Modern Culture due to the impact of the health crisis
Kenya: Ministry of Sports, Culture and Heritage, 100 million fos Artists, Actors and Musicians Stimulus Program
Russia: Potanin Foundation, Common cause
Singapore: National Arts Council, Sustaining the arts during COVID-19
Spain: El Gobierno destinará 76,4 millones de euros a la protección del sector cultural
Sweden/European Commission: State aid – Commission approves €38 million Swedish scheme to compensate damages caused by cancelled or postponed cultural events due to coronavirus outbreak
UK: Arts Council England, COVID-19 support
UK: Arts Council England, Financial support for artists, creative practitioners and freelancers
UK: Arts Council Wales, Responding to coronavirus (Covid-19)
UK: Arts Council Engand, Emergency Response Funds (data)
UK: Boris Johnson pledges £1.5bn lifeline to keep UK’s arts sector afloat
UK: Sam Mendes launches fund for theatre workers hit by Covid-19 crisis
USA: Kinkade Family Foundation, Emergency grant for curators
USA: Anonymous Was A Woman and the New York Foundation for the Arts, Emergency relief grant for women artists
USA: Cinema worker solidarity fund
USA: 15 resources for cash-strapped artists hit by coronavirus cuts and closures
USA: Artists Now Emergency Relief Fund
5. Campaingns, manifestos and petitions to raise awareness regarding of the impact on the cultural sector
Belgium: By State of the Arts (EN / NL)
Bulgaria: an emergency petition to support the independent cultural sector in Bulgaria.
Czech Republic: Festival of Nothing 2020
Europe: NEMO, Survey on the impact of the COVID-19 situation on museums in Europe
Europe: Opera Europa, The existential impact of theatre closures
European Cultural Foundation, Uphold culture in the EU budget
European Cultural Foundation, Culture of Solidarity Fund
France: Pétition pour le soutien des intermittents
Germany: Hilfen für Freiberufler und Künstler während des Corona-Shutdowns
ICOM – CECA: Covid 19 threatens severely museum education
IETM, Rescue the Arts: plea to national governments
International: Arts&Education, Open letter to museums and galleries in support of education and other essential workers
Italy: To support precarious workers and freelancers
Italy: Arts Workers Italia
Poland: Open letter/petition to the Minister of Culture suggesting a system of allowance for the lockdown time and compensation system for all cancelled contracts/events (in Polish)
Portugal: Manifesto em defesa de um Presente com Futuro
Portugal: Carta aberta – Os invisíveis da cultura
Portugal: SOS ARTE PT
Portugal: Petição Artesjuntxs, Apelo à implementação de medidas de emergência excecionais no Sector Artístico
Portugal: Associação Profissional de Conservadores-Restauradores de Portugal – Conservação e Restauro | Medidas e apoios para o Sector no âmbito do COVID-19
Portugal: United for the Present and Future of Culture in Portugal
Portugal: Associação Portuguesa de Museologia, Carta sobre a reabertura dos museus, palácios, monumentos, sítios arqueológicos, instituições que preservam espécies vivas, centros interpretativos e centros de Ciência Viva de Portugal
Portugal: Associação de Bibliotecários, Arquivistas e Documentalistas (BAD), Tomada de posição: Arquivos e Bibliotecas durante a pandemia de COVID-19
Spain: Suspensión inmediata del pago de autónomos mientras dure la crisis del coronavirus
Spain: 52 medidas extraordinarias para el sector de las artes escénicas y la música
UK: Compass, Basic income conversation: Security for all, whatever it takes
UK: Museum Freelance, An Open Letter To UK Museums, Libraries, Heritage Sites, Archives And Galleries And Their Sector Organisations From The Museum Freelance Network
UK: Open letter to the Culture Secretary – #WeShallNotBeRemoved
UK: The importance of participatory arts – An open letter
USA, The People’s Cultural Plan – An Urgent List of Demands for Arts and Culture in the Face of NYC State of Emergency
Ukraine: Heads of major cultural institutions wrote an open letter/request to Ukrainian Prime Minister urging to review their decision of the the Ministry of Finance to radically cut their budgets (in Ukrainian)
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