• PIERRE Andrews’s paean of praise to Tory politicians for their supposed commitment to the arts in the pandemic ignores the plight of the near-70 per cent of performing arts practitioners who are self-employed, (The lifelines for the arts are good news, April 8).

Not only actors, musicians, singers and dancers, but thousands of technicians, wig, prop and costume-makers, stage management and other freelances have been deemed ineligible for government furlough schemes or self-employed benefits.

It’s only thanks to emergency schemes such as the Theatre Artists Fund, founded last summer by director Sam Mendes (www.theatreartists.fund), that many have avoided destitution since their livelihoods and income were abruptly cut off in March 2020.

While French creative industry workers have been eligible for extra state monthly benefits throughout the pandemic, in contrast the United Kingdom government has consistently failed to value and support those who make the country’s arts possible.

It’s good news that a financial lifeline has belatedly been thrown to Camden Arts Centre, along with other national and local organisations, but in the last year the government has comprehensively ignored the people without whom no arts or entertainment would be possible in the first place.

DON KELLER
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