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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think there are enough highly paid movie/entertainment types in the UK who should be lending sone support to Arts?

12 replies

Dominicgoings · 04/10/2020 10:57

Just that.

As with Premier league football clubs helping out the grassroots/lower leagues.

OP posts:
Lockheart · 04/10/2020 10:58

What makes you think they're not?

AdoptAdaptImprove · 04/10/2020 11:03

I’ve seen plenty of reports about just these things happening. But they don’t earn footballer-type money, and don’t forget their income has completely dried up too. Those people with high profiles lending their support and raising awareness for more sustainable solutions than giving out cash are doing the more useful work.

Publicising giving your own money makes it all about making the giver look good. Working hard to set up and support initiatives to help those for whom this puts them on the breadline, but doesn’t generate headlines about the famous person’s generosity or philanthropy, are much more useful and less self-serving.

Judashascomeintosomemoney · 04/10/2020 11:07

Also, it’s not just about money, even the richest of the rich would struggle to self fund the number of theatres and employees for any length of time, it wouldn’t be sustainable . It can be about other things than money. Andrew Lloyd Webber for example is campaigning hard for ways to be set up to allow theatres to open safely - even volunteering for the vaccine trial.

Runnerduck34 · 04/10/2020 11:15

I do think its a shame the release of the new James Bond film has been delayed again as releasing big films like this will support cinemas and their staff and if any film could offer it's support to a striggling industry it would be something like James Bond. I suppose they have delayed as they don't think they will make as much money.

Dominicgoings · 04/10/2020 11:25

@Lockheart

What makes you think they're not?
Because football clubs, arts venues, musicians etc are constantly in the news recently appealing for financial support?
OP posts:
Lockheart · 04/10/2020 11:35

@Dominicgoings and does that mean famous actors are not donating anything?

Dominicgoings · 04/10/2020 11:36

[quote Lockheart]@Dominicgoings and does that mean famous actors are not donating anything?[/quote]
It would be a reasonable assumption to make.

OP posts:
Lockheart · 04/10/2020 11:42

@Dominicgoings only if you are short of critical thinking.

I am not sure you grasp the scale of this crisis.

The governments arts bailout, announced earlier this year but still yet to be paid, is £1.57 billion.

And that is a bailout designed to ward off the worst of it. It is not designed to save every job or every venue.

£1.57 bn is a colossal amount of money. Even if all the top British actors donated all the cash they have, the sector would still be in very, VERY deep trouble.

The fact that they are still calling for help does not mean they have not received some very hefty donations from celebrities.

workhomesleeprepeat · 04/10/2020 11:52

This again! You don’t know what these celebs are doing to support. Or how much money they actually have.

And in the case of footballers I always wonder why people target working class boys who are now rich. Want to ‘put them back in their place’ I think.

Op what about all the hedge fund billionaires residing in this country? What about all the old money tied up in the aristocracy? What about all the financiers who earn millions and millions? Stop picking on the highly visible. There are many more people who are not on tv who have more money than you can imagine, more than footballers, more than celebs. Why not ask why they are not donating?

froggygoneacourting · 04/10/2020 13:54

Plenty of people have donated huge amounts of money.

The screenwriter James Graham (who was one of the people instrumental in drafting and negotiating the £1.57 billion bailout) donated his entire salary from his last TV series to a charity that financially supports arts freelancers who have lost their jobs. It got barely any media attention.

Andrew Lloyd Webber, Benedict Cumberbatch and Sophie Hunter, Imelda Staunton, Eddie Redmayne, Sonia Friedman, Colin Firth, Hugh Bonneville, Tom Hiddleston, Michaela Coel, Michael Frayn, David Hare, Nicholas Hytner, Emma Thompson, David Walliams and Edgar Wright all donated large sums to the Theatre Artists Fund. Again, little media attention.

Tom Hiddleston and his family are huge theatre donors and his mum in particular has worked incredibly hard and given so much of herself over the years to support theatre artists who are in the early stages of building their careers, including myself. Few outside of the theatre industry know that. I don't know what Tom and his mum have been doing during this crisis (apart from the above donation) but from my personal experience with both, I'd be astounded if they hadn't been heavily donating and most likely getting personally involved too.

Benedict Cumberbatch donated £5k just to one person's kickstarter, and it's only public knowledge because the person went to the press. That's just one tiny individual kickstarter. If he donated that much to a single person, it's reasonable to assume he's been making more donations and likely larger donations to theatres and arts charities.

James McAvoy donated £30k to one charity that I know of.

And most of these donations have been to charities directly supporting workers who have lost their entire income overnight, not theatres themselves. In times of crisis people take priority over buildings.

It's a huge scandal how freelancers who have lost their entire industry overnight have been left with nothing except their savings (if they have any) and whatever they can earn from finding a new job in a supermarket or as a cleaner (if they can). Most freelancers are not eligible for the SEIS. I have friends who earned a decent amount, who were told they were only eligible for ludicrous sums like £8. Friends who are disabled who have been waiting since May for PIP decisions.

The potential loss of buildings is serious, but people are more important. This industry is facing a mass talent exodus as tens of thousands, maybe millions of people both in creative roles and in technical roles are being forced to leave the industry. Many will never return. When and if this pandemic ends, we will be seeing the repercussions for decades in the dearth of talent and especially the absence of actors and writers from less wealthy backgrounds.

The focus on helping actual people coupled with the sheer scale of money needed to keep theatres and theatre companies (or other arts companies) from going under, means it's just not practical to rely on individual donations even from wealthy people.

Plus most people working in theatre are not wealthy. The handful who are (like Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh) are actively involved in the fight to save the arts. Most actors, even quite famous actors, aren't super-wealthy. The 1% of Hollywood megastars bringing in big money,often don't come from a theatre background. And it's not like theatre is collapsing in isolation. There are so many 'causes' which need help, some of which people have personal connections to. For example I have one fairly famous friend who has a child with Down's Syndrome so while she wishes she could do more to support the arts, she's prioritising giving her time and money to charities relevant to her child.

There are just too many parts of society that are collapsing which need money, and only proper government support (not just financial support, but being given clear guidance with which to make plans) can help.

Judashascomeintosomemoney · 04/10/2020 14:17

Excellent post froggy

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