Covid-19 and its Impacts on Australian Arts

Covid 19 and Australia’s Art Ecology
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Introduction
For the past three years, the world has been reeling from the global impacts of a pandemic. Economies had begun going into recession as society was literally brought to a standstill. The Covid 19 pandemic seems to have changed everything. It has reset how things are to be done. All activities that involved physical contact; human interactions, were suspended too. Australia was not exempted; it also bore the brunt of the virus. This even pushed the nation’s government to enforce one of the world's longest and strictest national lockdowns. Australia’s art ecology was one of the most affected by the country’s social and entertainment scene. The evolving conditions of the Covid 19 pandemic have also greatly impacted the arts world in Australia in unprecedented ways. It has impacted technology, the art professionals, the art markets and Australian society at large.
Impact on the role of technology
The most obvious impact of the pandemic in the art scene has been a shift from physical to online applications. Art students are now learning it online, and their trainers have opted to do so in order for them also to safeguard their source of income. When it comes to real art, there are a few that can be done online as well. However, some art cannot be as authentic as the feel when online, and the complexities involved in putting them online also makes it tough to do so.
Like the rest of the world, the pandemic resulted in social distancing and working from home as authorities put measures to prevent further transmissions and infections. These measures were a blessing in disguise for technology, as it resulted in more innovative ways to engage with others. There was the development of zoom, while video conferencing usage went a notch higher. Artists in Australia also had to embrace this as a way to ensure that the ravages of the pandemic would not completely halt their trade. Museums have also had to embrace digital catalogues in response to the pandemic (Noehrer, Gilmore, Jay & Yehudi, 2021).
There has generally been a significant shift in Australian art, as the sector has embraced a digital platform for its content, where the public can access content through their laptops, phones and tablets online. These online sites are also customized to ensure that a visitor can perform a virtual tour therein, and an interactive platform that integrates both audio and video (Chen, 2021). The catch however, is that the embracement of technology has not been uniform. Whereas the buildings housing these art pieces might be technologically integrated, some artists are not. This is especially the case with indigenous artists, who tend to be less digitally connected compared to those in the towns.
The pandemic has also helped to lay bare the serious issue of imbalance and inequality between the indigenous population and the rest of the population. It has further brought the issue of the digital divide into sharp focus. There is digital inequity, with the non-indigenous portion of the industry being more connected than the indigenous ones. This means that the cataloguing process of these distinct pieces of art might not be quite an easy task for the indigenous art centers as it is for the non-indigenous ones (Anatolitis, 2021).They lack the technological resources and the skills to engage with the rest of the country due to unequal distribution of the same. Since the natives might not be digitally savvy due to the digital inequity and seclusion, there is a high chance of inaccurate online cataloguing for them.
Before the pandemic, a few art agencies were digitally prepared and equipped for the impending troubles. They had a digital team, with experts in graphic design and digital managers as they strived to shift to a more digitally oriented platform (Holcombe-James, 2021). During the pandemic, they had an easy time since it was just a matter of transitioning seamlessly. This is however not the case for most other art agencies across the companies. These companies transitioned since they had the resources to do so. Most others do not have such luxuries. It is important for the government to come up with a proper funding approach to ensure that every institution is properly funded and given the resources needed to make the jump up.
Impact on the Livelihoods of the Arts Professionals
According to Caust (2020), 75% of individuals working in the art industry would lose their jobs as of 2020. She further noted that 53% of the sector had already been rendered functionless at the time, painting a grim picture of what it meant to the professionals working in the sector. Even though what happened might not be quite as drastic as what Caust noted, the impact was still quite serious and very close to that. The implications are still being felt today as well, as the country and the sector are still reeling from the pandemic. It is definitely a serious problem when a sector of the economy loses even just 10% of its workforce due to enforced job losses.
The artists and the stakeholders in the field felt the impact of the evolving conditions of the Covid 19 pandemic. Like most people around the world, the pandemic brought lockdowns and social distancing measures. These resulted in people having to work from home, while others even had no work at all due to the massive job losses experienced at the time. Arts professionals were no exception. They had to also comply with these government measures, just like any other person within the borders of Australia. This was a tough call given the nature of work that these individuals do.
The graph above shows the recovery percentage of each sector in the Australian economy. (Link: McKinsey. /industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/the-next-normal-for-australian-industries-and-workforces). As it can be seen, the arts sector leads with a 57%.
Art is an expressive activity in most cases. This means that an artist always wants to display and share with the public about his works, something that means constant and regular interpersonal engagement. The enforcement of social distancing measures essentially meant that these professionals had their work cut out. They would not engage with the public directly. When an artist is not allowed to be expressive, then he ceases to become one. That is essentially what happened to the artist professionals in Australia over the past two years. Their work was greatly limited and even nonexistent in some instances.
The evolving Covid 19 conditions also seriously impacted the financial aspect of these arts professionals. With lockdown and social distancing measures, art venues and theatres where artists used to showcase their works were closed down to contain the spread. This resulted in a sharp drop in their respective incomes due to a sudden stop to their main income stream. Holznagel (2022) notes that the average working hours of employees in the sector reduced by 21%. This is almost four times the average industry percentages in the country. In terms of job losses, it was the second hardest hit in the country. With financial struggles come a lot of other struggles too, as they can no longer comfortable sustain their households as they used to. Stress and pressure set in. Financial struggles have been one major hallmark of the pandemic due to closures of business as well as reduction in the spending of most sectors of the economy.
It has also af...