Fatima’s next job could be in cyber

Yes, but how many ballet dancers does a society need? What if loads of people want to devote their life and career to ballet, but the country is brought to it's knees because it doesn't have enough cybersecurity experts or surgeons or whatever?

I agree it's bad timing and the government shouldn't be saying "sucks to be you, artists, guess you'd better retrain" right now. But if the ad was from 2019, that wasn't the original intent.

The ad is pretty bad but I think the point is fair. I spent years studying to be a professional musician and finally admitted I wasn't dedicated or talented enough to support myself at it. By chance I stumbled into another field in which I've had a fulfilling career (arts fields can be pretty all-absorbing while you're in them, I knew very little about how to break into other professions). Sometimes it's the right choice because there's just not an endless market for one particular set of skills. Deciding to switch fields is a perfectly valid choice at an individual level.

If the country is crying out for workers in field X, it's perfectly fair to run a recruitment campaign encouraging people to consider it.

Unfortunately it's spectacularly bad timing under the circumstances. And of course recruiting everyone for cyberwhatever jobs shouldn't be a substitute for actually supporting the arts.

Balhammom

Entirely see why those who have trained in their current field don't like it

Ballet isn't a "field" FFS - it's a lifetime commitment - and usually from a very young age.

Imagine the situation reversed - do you really think you personally could just pop along to an evening class and be ready for a world-class performance of a famous ballet after a few sessions?

How about music? Do you think you'd be ready for a Wembley Stadium gig after a few online courses?

Governments can do more than throw money at things to support them. They can - and should - use the tremendous resources at their disposal to create new opportunities that help the arts thrive during these challenging times.

I’ve figured out what is niggling me though.
Both the ad and the criticism of the ad take as a basic assumption that you can’t be both.

I agree. From experience.

I also agree with posters who have pointed out the economic reality of this situation.

We deal quite a bit with reality here on FWR and this is it, everyone.

By all means let artists advocate and campaign for better funding during COVID, but I don’t see this as an own goal, nor especially insensitive to women, nor anti-female.

Meanwhile the shadow mental health minister has completely missed the point and turned it into some sort of race/ class battle.

The shadow mental health minister, Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, tweeted: “Fatima, you be you. Don’t let anyone else tell you that you aren’t good enough because you don’t conform to their preconceived social norms.”

As for prancing around in a tutu -it's such a clueless comment saying anything more gives it far more credit than it deserves.

I hate the "but she doesn't know it yet". Seems quite sinister.

Yes, that is what contributes to the insensitivity of it, I think. It's a really poor campaign and it does come across with the overtone that she isn't going to have a choice and should be pleased to have the IT opportunity, even if they genuinely didn't mean that.

Or alternatively, more effort could be made by government to consider how the arts and performers survive the pandemic, including working with the many of them who are urgently trying to talk to the government about what might be possible, so the arts in this country isn't completely devastated in ways it won't recover from. Because for many of the theatres and companies and festivals with long histories (including the mental health ones and the disability arts ones and the children's specialist ones, and the ones that are the major circuit for most small companies and acts not just the fun and wellies ones) if they go down, they won't be back. I've worked for a number of them, it's really not a case of there being much to come back to if the arts are dismissed as just not that important in the scheme of things.

Also, no one seems to have thought that you don't just switch to a career in cyber-security overnight, as the advert implies. You can't just get a job running secure computer systems any more than you can one day decide to get a job as a ballerina at the Bolshoi.

You have to get trained up. It's so bloody stupid....

This will what Dowden has to say

But surely the unemployed dancers don't need adverts to tell them that they can re-train?

@Iggly

It doesn't require a particularly detailed knowledge of economics to appreciate that bailing out banks saved the state huge amounts of money. While you could, of course, encourage bankers to retrain elsewhere, that would cripple the economy (with banks acting as the main source of funding and liquidity for almost every other sector).

Will the economy collapse if dancers (who can't currently work) retrain? Nope. It will be a pity but hopefully many can come back when theatres re-open, having performed fulfilling and important roles in the interim.

I just took it to mean that if your particular skill area/industry (whatever it is) is going to be subject to a long term down turn, then it would be helpful to consider what else you can do.

I have much respect for people of the arts who put enormously long hours and hard work into their chosen specialism but the world is in turmoil at the moment and we have to look at where the earning opportunities are so that people can actually make a living.

If we look at how we had to manage during WWII and the huge lifestyle changes people had to make in those days because circumstances dictated (women having to take jobs in factories and learn how to work the land etc) - I see this as similar.

I'm not quite sure how it is offensive, more indicative of a sad and challenging situation.

I hate the "but she doesn't know it yet". Seems quite sinister.

"In cyber....." what?

If people are unable to financially support themselves due to the impact of C-19 on their profession

A shame we didn’t apply that thinking to the banks who lost billions gambling with our cash in 2008.

It’s completely and utterly out of touch.
Honestly. That’s before I even get to the use that this is great because it encourages STEM careers for women. I don’t think it does tbh.

If people are unable to financially support themselves due to the impact of C-19 on their profession, then encouraging them to adapt and/or retrain into growth industries which are better insulated from the impact of C-19 seems like a great idea.

Entirely see why those who have trained in their current field don't like it, but the state has a responsibility to signpost opportunities rather than making those people dependent on taxpayer funded bailouts.

inews.co.uk/news/politics/old-government-advert-suggesting-ballet-dancer-retrain-labelled-crass-minister-public-anger-712753

I too hate the message of the ad, but it should be noted that it’s from 2019, before Covid devastated the arts.

Still a shit, offensive ad though.

Interesting how working in tech or being a sports (wo)man is worthy of respect but ballet is just "prancing about in a tutu". Smells like internalized misogyny to me.

Prancing around in a tutu? . Of course their should be more women in stem, the way to do this however is not by shitting on the arts sector even moreso. Sick of this bullshit.

God that's awful - a ballet dancer who's honed her physique and skills for decades expected to be grateful for the chance to slump in front of a screen and eat pringles. Fuck that. If it's a choice between losing all our culture and getting covid, I'll take my chances with the latter.

“Cyber” has never meant cybersecurity. It means cybersex. This ad sounds like she is going to be working on OnlyFans. It’s not a new term and make me wonder who approved the ad.

www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cyber

When one thinks how long a ballet dancer trains, and how punishing the work is - that advert must be like a knife in the chest.

It is brutal and disrespectful to the entire population of arts and performance professionals.