UK government under pressure to support freelancers in arts community

The UK government has been pressured  to help the arts community in England and Wales as venues are shut again during lockdown 2. Labour MP Chris Elmore told the House of Commons there were "growing numbers of freelancers, musicians, performance artists who are excluded" from support. Arts minister Caroline Dinenage said the government was "working very hard" to help freelancers access support. She said Arts Council England had allocated £119m for individuals, on top of the £1.57bn available to venues in England through the government's Culture Recovery Fund. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden acknowledged this issue and said, "I understand the many challenges faced by freelancers and I hear about it every day. It is the case that across the economy 66% of freelancers are able to benefit from the Treasury scheme, which has been increased again by the chancellor." Arts Council England has made £119m available to individuals, £23m of that has already been distributed and about £96m is still available to apply for." She also said that the Culture Recovery Fund would "benefit freelancers because it does enable organisations to be assisted to reopen, and to restart performances, maybe in a digital or live stream capacity".