Towards de-flexibiliation of the cultural work force after Covid?

Description

The Covid crisis caused a radical decrease of the cultural independent workforce. The effect of the crisis was in this sector particularly hard because of a preceding period of flexibilisation of the work force in general and of the cultural work force in particular.

Dutch government planning agencies expect the interest in cultural participation to return after the crisis. But the question remains how many people will still be working in the sector? The flexibilisation leads to cultural professionals seeking employment elsewhere. Also, even if the flexibilisation is sufficiently countered by societal and political calls for deflexibilisation, most organisations that used to employ the cultural work force will no longer exist. It can therefore be expected that the cultural work force will come out of this crisis in reduced numbers.

We know that cultural participation plays a vital role in people’s lives, no matter which type of cultural activity this encompasses. Cultural participation improves acceptance of a diversity of world views, increases solidarity, mutual understanding and decreases social isolation. It can be hypothesized that a decrease of the numbers of cultural professionals will lead to a regression of these beneficial effects of cultural participation in society.

Responding to the predominantly quantitative research on how the Covid crisis has impacted the sector in economic terms and how it has increased already pressing precarity, this research investigates how the experience of the present situation influences cultural professionals in their strategic decision making and career choices. Related to this question is investigated how cultural independent professionals, having experienced how the flexibilisation development before Covid had destructive effects on local cultural ecosystems, envision a societal and political support system that could sustainably revitalise the sector.

These questions are framed by the ongoing public discourses in Germany and the Netherlands on what the arts and culture mean in and for society, how they (have to) legitimise themselves (e.g. in relation to other sectors), and which societal chances could lie in revitalising the sector. The paper will also touch upon how a different understanding of what is accepted as being art could change through these developments.

Period	25-Aug-2021
Event title	Post-Corona-Gesellschaft? : Pandemie, Krise und ihre Folgen
Event type	Conference
Degree of Recognition	International