Lockdown Update Day 108

[elisi]

TGIF :D Here, have some petitions & stuff to be angry about (UK), and to bring you hope (US):

Value of fishing industry to UK: £1.4bn a year

Value of creative industries to UK: £111bn a year

But guess which one the government’s prepared to further devastate our economy, reputation and influence for, and which one it’s happy to let die.

— David Schneider (@davidschneider) July 2, 2020

“Let them be well used, for they are the abstract and brief chronicles of the time.” @OliverDowden you are allowing our theatres to die. There has to be proper support before it is too late. The repercussions will be catastrophic. #SaveOurTheatre https://t.co/nYbveOwv88

— michael sheen (@michaelsheen) July 2, 2020

Petition: Offer more support to the arts (particularly Theatres and Music) amidst COVID-19


A thread with more Petitions:

BLM UK petitions for Parliament that *still* need signing thread, keep sharing, keep signing👇🏾

— Hasan Patel 🌹 (@CorbynistaTeen) June 27, 2020

And hey, since I'm bitching about the government:

Right. Fucksake. Let's Livetweet PMQs then.

Johnson opens by bumblewanking about how amazing the NHS is.

Weirdly, doesn't mention that staff still aren't being tested and that they're stiffing student nurse volunteers out of pay. pic.twitter.com/5RrRB1huz4

— John Bull (@garius) July 1, 2020

This was Sadiq Khan's response when a caller accused him of failing to support the government on Brexit and Covid-19. @mrjamesob | @SadiqKhan pic.twitter.com/Xj0H1hh8w0

— LBC (@LBC) July 3, 2020

Five years ago...

🇬🇧 The UK was central to European power - acting as its greatest cultural & diplomatic link to the US and Asia.

👩🏻‍🏫 Our citizens had rights to work & settle right across our continent.

This government took all that away from us. I will never forgive them.

— Dr Mike Galsworthy (@mikegalsworthy) July 1, 2020

~

Hopeful things from America:

I don’t think people understand.

This is NYC right now. Day 30. In a row.

The #BlackLivesMatter movement is just getting started.pic.twitter.com/O45EhLdRU5

— Joshua Potash (@JoshuaPotash) June 30, 2020

It’s sort of overlooked in the national discourse but the current protests are larger and more widespread than even the Civil Rights Movement was at its peak. That’s wild to think about.

— Samuel Sinyangwe (@samswey) July 3, 2020

This is pretty remarkable. The highest-ranking West Point cadets for the Classes of 2018 and 2019 have jointly written a 40 pg. policy proposal with recommendations for making the Academy anti-racist. (1/4) pic.twitter.com/v2YT4LuoYK

— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) July 3, 2020

~

And finally. Aïda Muluneh, Ethiopian photographer and contemporary artist based in Addis Ababa (x):

Comments

[kazzy-cee.livejournal.com]

Music is so underrated - where are the music lessons - where will the music come from in the future? We’ll end up importing musicians. (Sigh).

[elisi]

The arts generally... We are a very artistic household:

Husband: Film maker & writer (plays several instruments)

Eldest daughter: Going off to do a Fine Art degree in autumn

Middle daughter: Just finished 1st year of Community Theatre degree (plays several instruments)

Youngest daughter: Plays the violin, did her Grade 5 earlier in the year. Loves music, but also science. No idea which way she will go.

(Me: Don't play any instruments but did an Art Foundation course and will - hopefully - get a novel published once I can get it finished.)

/random ramble, but worried about the arts.

[kikimay]

Really? I thought UK cared a lot about its artistic/cultural industry, it's so productive and competitive! I think people should probably push this issue harder: even here, in Italy, the Arts were snobbed at first and then people pointed out that Arts are ... very important for us?

And they are struggling the most, especially since many people who work in the entertainment industry won't be able to resume their jobs just yet, they need help.

[elisi]

*bitter laugh*

We have Tories in power and they care only about themselves and their rich donors. That's IT.

Oh they LIKE the arts. But extending that to actually helping in a concrete financial way? Pft. As if. (Don't know if you saw, but a few weeks ago it took a famous footballer to shame the government into not letting children go hungry. >:(

[ragnarok-08.livejournal.com]

Huh, you'd think the UK would care a lot more about the artistic/cultural industry :/

Music really is underrated, and it's so important.

[elisi]

Just copying & pasting what I wrote above, because TRUTH:

Huh, you'd think the UK would care a lot more about the artistic/cultural industry :/
*bitter laugh*

We have Tories in power and they care only about themselves and their rich donors. That's IT.

Oh they LIKE the arts. But extending that to actually helping in a concrete financial way? Pft. As if. (Don't know if you saw, but a few weeks ago it took a famous footballer to shame the government into not letting children go hungry. >:(

Music really is underrated, and it's so important.
It really is.

[sea_thoughts]

This is just the next step after cutting back art/music/drama in state schools. Because the arts teach people empathy and show them different ideas. The difference is that people are a lot more aware of what they're doing now.

[elisi]

This. I have no idea how any of it is to be turned around. :(