Brighton and Hove's entertainment plan for 2021 discussed

The comments came as members of Brighton and Hove City Council’s Tourism, Equalities, Communities and Culture Committee discussed the council’s post Covid-19 cultural recovery plan.

Tourism and culture boss Donna Chisholm said that some events had struggled over the winter period, such as the Christmas Artists Open Houses.

People had not expected them to take place as there was currently a lack of confidence about going to events.

She said: “As we move into the next year and confidence returns and people are hungry for some kind of community activity and to feel there will be a return to some form of normality when the time comes.

“There is a great deal we can be doing to promote activity when it is safe.”

Brighton Sussex UK 10 May 2014 / The Electric Cabaret Moulin Rouge show entertains crowds with burlesque dancing at Brighton Festival Fringe City event today Photograph taken by Simon Dack

But the cultural and creative sector was in crisis because of the pandemic with individuals and businesses facing a “catastrophic” loss of income.

She said that the various lifelines, such as government grants, could not cover the losses and the lack of income and could not save the sector.

Organisations and individuals in Brighton and Hove had managed to secure over £10 million since last March from the government’s Cultural Recovery Funds (CRF) distributed by ACE (Arts Council England).”

Ms Chisholm, the council’s assistant director for culture, tourism and sport, said: “Recovery is very much the focus now. Although we are at the peak of the public health crisis, our mind has to turn to where we go next, particularly in assisting with the recovery of this sector which is so vital to Brighton and Hove and to our reputation nationally and internationally.”

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Labour councillor Jackie O’Quinn, who is also a member of the Brighton Dome and Festival Board, told the committee at a virtual meeting that many outdoor events were currently planned during the festival season in May.

She said: “Looking at the Covid situation there is at the moment, I wonder if this is too ambitious.

“I keep looking, and wonder are they going to let greater numbers of people congregate outdoors. Everything seems very up in the air.”

Councillor O’Quinn said that she was pleased to see the Other Place’s Electric Arcade venue up and running, as well as the organisation’s events at the Warren during the autumn.

Ms Chisholm said that the Dome and Festival “read the runes very carefully” and had proved resilient.

She said that the current planned festival programme did rely on people coming together but social distancing in a similar way to events that took place in the late summer last year.

The programme of events was shifting to later in the year, with many expected to take place from June onwards.

Ms Chisholm said that many organisations were “desperately reliant” on something happening this year, now that the covid-19 vaccination programme was under way.

The sector is estimated to have employed about 16,000 people before the pandemic, with more than half of those jobs at risk as venues closed and events were cancelled.

Cancelling the Brighton Marathon, Pride and the Brighton Festival and Fringe, as well as other events last year, is believed to have cost Brighton and Hove £100 million in lost revenues.

The fallout also hit takings at hotels and guesthouses, pubs and bars, cafés and restaurants, for performers, tourist attractions and cabs, trains and buses.