New Research: Local Access to Culture & Creative Activities Reduced During Covid-19

The Covid-19 pandemic has reduced access to culture and creative activities across Scotland. In new research conducted by Survation on behalf of Culture Counts, we've been able to take a measure of the impact on access at two points in time; Pre-Covid, and December 2020.

Fieldwork took place on 4-9 December 2020, before stricter lockdown restrictions were introduced on Boxing Day. Our survey sampled 1,010 residents aged 16+ living in Scotland.

Our question asked 'Which of the following cultural activities have you had access to in your local area? Please select all that apply.' The survey reveals that 59% of Scots answered 'None of the above' in December 2020, compared to just 28% Pre-Covid.

Our interactive barchart lets you compare access to specific activities like ‘library’, ‘cinema' in Pre-Covid times and December 2020.



Regional Differences

Access at the local level is markedly different across regions of Scotland. Glasgow for example, saw 70% of respondents say they had access to 'None of the above' activities in December 2020, compared to 46% in Lothian. Which demonstrates the disparity of access from region to region.

Our table below lets you interact and select a specific region to explore. Again, it's worth noting our survey was conducted before Level 4 lockdown rules were introduced on Boxing Day 2020.



National Arts Force & Investment

In the Crowd-Sourced Manifesto for 2021, we call on all of Scotland’s political parties to commit to helping national recovery by supporting Scotland’s vibrant cultural sector to thrive again and play a valuable role in rebuilding social bonds and livelihoods.

The cultural sector returns a positive impact for a relatively small investment. We can reach people in communities, hospitals, schools and homes, in theatres, concert halls and in outdoor spaces. We generate positive outcomes in place-making, in the visitor economy, in creative entrepreneurship and across mental, physical health and recovery.

  • The next Scottish Government should invest in a five-year plan for the continued development of the National Arts Force as outlined in the report ‘Towards a robust resilient wellbeing economy for Scotland’ from the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery. A pilot of the project will be launched soon and learnings from this can be taken into the five-year plan.

  • The next Scottish Government should provide a minimum of a three-year-guarantee investment agreement to organisations such as Creative Scotland. The impact of one year agreements is a major problem for our sector and regularly stalls the cultural sector’s ability to plan for and work in a sustainable way. A three-year agreement would make a huge difference to the sector as would the introduction of budget that takes account of inflation. The sector has worked with budgets which don’t include inflation for too long and results are now plain to see; this norm should not continue.

Learn More

The Crowd-Sourced Manifesto for 2021 is online here.
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