According to a study conducted by the University of Sheffield, in a larger picture, it was found that the pandemic had the greatest effect on the mental health of freelancers, with 76.5% reporting a worsening in their mental well being.
Event crew, lighting and sound engineers reported a greater worsening of mental health than respondents in other roles, with 53.8% saying that their mental health was "much worse" compared to 25.5% on average.
Cinema, performing arts, museums and historical sites were worst-hit, while others, including computer games, software, book publishing, TV broadcasting and libraries, were less badly affected.
During an exclusive interview with Asian Voice, West Midlands Mayor Andy Street commented on whether freelancers and the arts sector are a priority amid more concerning issues that prevail due to the ongoing pandemic.
The WestMidlands Mayor said, “I look at it as absolute mission-critical in two ways. I actually slightly disagree with you that it's not the priority because all the what was going on before Christmas here was very before the Omicron cases. What I really mean by that is - people wanted to come and have those experiences. It's almost like an antidote to the pressures, the restrictions that people have been under. I think it's a hugely important sector for people expressing themselves, having that community activity. And the other reason it's important economically is the creative sector is growing very fast.
“So what we are looking to do directly, is to stimulate that through an organisation. We've set up an organisation called Craig Central, that works with producers. For example, it's actually building a new hub for content production for independent film producers, because we see it as a really important piece. And very shortly we'll be doing an announcement with the BBC about what they will be investing here specifically. The other parts of the creative sector are what was going on in Coventry, as they've been the UK City of Culture, where we've been the single biggest funder for the City of Culture. And I think that's a really clear piece of evidence that we understand the importance of that economically and socially.”
