The arts in York welcome the government’s recent emergency funding announcement. We also welcome the extraordinary support we have had in the past few months from our audiences and communities.

But arts organisations in the city will still face a challenging future in the wake of the Covid crisis, along with other sectors where people gathering together is fundamental to their purpose and being.

We are concerned that cities outside London receive their fair share of the funds and that they are not disproportionally given to the large national organisations based in the capital.

There must also be support for smaller organisations like the music venues at the Crescent and Fulford Arms, or artists' studios like Pica in Grape Lane so they are not allowed to simply disappear. We are all part of the rich ecology of culture in the city, from museums, galleries, theatres and performing arts companies and individual artists to libraries and festivals.

We are also concerned how this investment will support the freelance workforce who create and produce the culture we all enjoy - enabling them to keep working in York, in the arts.

Finally, while advice on how and when venues can reopen is either absent or inadequate, arts venues simply cannot make essential plans for the future. Let’s have a timetable, like the one supplied to the tourism and hospitality industries, so that we can all look forward to safely watching live music, theatre, dance or visual art.

Yours sincerely,

Tom Bird, Executive Director, York Theatre Royal

Olivia Chatten, Master, Guild of Media Arts

Reyahn King, CEO York Museums Trust

Amanda Smith, joint CEO Pilot Theatre

Esther Richardson, joint CEO Pilot Theatre

Delma Tomlin, Director, National Centre for Early Music