Full Stream Ahead: How has the Arts and Culture world coped with Covid-19?

Owen Frost on 22 June 2020

With great Leeds arts community spaces such as Hyde Park Picture House or the Leeds Museums & Galleries temporarily closing due to Covid-19, it is easy for students to remain defeatist, envisioning the creative landscape through a gloomy corona-ridden perspective. However, there are pockets of creativity surfacing in spite of the virus as all-round creatives, not just in Leeds but nationally and internationally seek out new imaginative ways to entertain the masses. Not only are these methods of entertainment beneficial to the public, but they keep the world of arts and culture alive, often providing livelihoods for great artists who rely on traditional methods to promote their craft.

Sadly, but inevitably, on 17th March at 1pm, Hyde Park Picture House cancelled all of their upcoming screenings, while the same day at 5pm Leeds Museums & Galleries became “temporarily closed to the public until further notice”.

The more widely spread impact of Covid-19 upon the nation has come to the media’s attention: over four hundred of the UK’s leading cultural figures including Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Johnny Marr and Meera Syal have all signed a letter written by the Creative Industries Federation (CIF), requesting the government to fund artists with the accompanying rhetoric that the UK could become “a cultural wasteland” because of the economic damage caused by the Covid-19 outbreak. Call to action was heightened after the German government had effectively supported freelancers and small businesses through a federal aid package worth €50 billion (£43bn) distributing €5,000 payments to individual freelancers, many of whom included artists. Despite the UK government’s furlough scheme, many remain adamant that the government has not done enough to support struggling artists and small businesses.

In contrast to smaller businesses, streaming giants Netflix and Amazon Prime have hit shows such as Sex Education which have been put on pause, but are continuing to reap the benefits of the couchbound general public. Netflix’s Extraction, which I recently reviewed for this paper, premiered to the biggest online opener in the platform’s history. YouTube’s viewership has skyrocketed, but a lack of advertising revenue has dented the site’s projected financial success. Many viewers have reportedly turned to online gaming in television’s place, with the Nintendo Switch having sold out in many stores.

National Theatre Live have been broadcasting their ‘At Home’ series of pre-recorded plays on their Youtube channel. (Credit: National Theatre)

Despite the potentially colossal economic downturn, which has hit almost every conceivable industry, there have been pockets of creative outbursts in the mainstream. At the opposite end of the artistic spectrum to television, star-studded music benefit concerts such as One World: Together at Home, featuring the likes of Billie Eilish and Ellie Goulding, saw the rise of streaming platforms raise millions for those in need in a Live-Aid-style.

Equally, for many of the pro-active workers in the arts industries, the lengthy time at home has provided unprecedented creative license, with many homes becoming new Instagram live stages to broadcast their projects to even wider audiences than before. In March, a Dorset-based artist Stuart Semple premiered life drawing classes from his studio via Facebook, hiring a model and inviting anyone to participate. This resulted in some 3,500 artists globally sharing their efforts using the hashtag #SempleLifeClassLive. Many musicians such as Easy Life, FUR, Rex Orange County, Tyler the Creator and more have livestreamed either old hits or new songs. As Semple rightly points out, “It’s a crucial time for the arts globally to step in and fill the void in people’s lives.”

Locally Leeds Museums & Galleries have made the change onto the web, where you can access virtual tours of their various exhibits and they have even launched a podcast called Museums n’That. Apple Podcasts listeners love the new accessible fusion of information and comedy, providing a fun behind the scenes look at Leeds Museums & Galleries. One listener raved that the hosts have become “Lockdown Legends” and each podcast is “informative, enlightening and positive.”

There are instances where creativity and entertainment are uniting people during this pandemic. Indeed, my neighbours and I have recently discussed the latest National Theatre productions premiering on their YouTube channel with a Gillian Anderson remake of A Streetcar Named Desire opening in audiences’ living rooms nationally. At the student level, nineteen different university drama societies including Leeds, Bristol, Warwick, and others, have taken part in a campaign called ‘Students Saving Our Theatres’ which has raised funds via a crowdfunding page pledging to support spaces including Leeds Playhouse. 

The world of comedy has been struck by the virus, but stand-ups are fighting back. Komedia, which runs in both Brighton and Bath has organised livestream sets and pre-recorded features on YouTube where stand-ups have a new digital platform to make audiences laugh. The only slightly unsettling factor is the lack of a laughter track, but perhaps this develops comedy in new profound ways.

With the advent of Zoom’s roaring popularity, I took part in a recent free Eventbrite online QnA with the Idler Magazine where Armando Iannucci answered questions about inspiration behind projects including The Thick of It, The Personal History of David Copperfield and Veep. I got to ask about the backlash he received from Russia for The Death of Stalin. Free events such as these, it could be argued, are deconstructing the absurdly mainstream prejudice that arts and culture has to be elitist and for the privileged. Instead, they bring people together and break down previous class-based presumptions.

Since the start of Covid-19 despite the economic malaise, art has found new ways of branching into people’s hearts and homes. Though we may get sick of the repetitive Zoom meeting links in this virtually-shifted environment, it is reassuring to know that the world of arts and culture is constantly adapting to promote new creativity to both the students of Leeds and the wider public.

Image Credit: BBC News

The Power of Diagnosis

Ruby Campbell on 15 June 2020

Would it be ethical to give a patient suspected of a peanut allergy a peanut to eat to prove this hypothesis correct? To a certain extent, this is how I was diagnosed with vaginismus.

In a previous article ‘Why I feared penetration aged fourteen: Vaginismus’ I explain why painful penetration has been normalised. Vaginismus is a painful condition whereby the vagina tightens up just as insertion is attempted, the individual has no control over this. Upon realising that I owed my body a better explanation then ‘this is normal’, I visited my student medical practice. After describing my symptoms, an internal vaginal examination was established as necessary to deal with the suspected diagnosis of vaginismus. This is despite NHS guidelines stating an internal examination is ‘unlikely’ to be beneficial due to the potential pain and upset it could cause. Physical abnormalities or other conditions such as infections can be ruled out by visual assessment, with doctors needing to ‘take a quick look’.

This was not my experience of diagnosis. I gave consent for the internal examination to take place. This decision was made because I thought an examination was mandatory in order to receive psychosexual therapy. I was given the choice of having a female doctor and a chaperone present. She attempted to insert the speculum whilst I was hysterically crying. Gentle pressure was repeatedly applied to my legs as I attempted to close them. When she was able to insert the speculum into my vagina to the smallest extent, she confirmed the muscle tension that she was expecting to detect. I then had to ask her to remove the speculum.

I am not a doctor and am writing this exclusively from a patient perspective. I am extremely grateful to live in a society where I can receive free public healthcare. Despite this, I find it hard to understand why a GP insisted on an internal examination when other psychosexual conditions, such as delayed ejaculation, are diagnosed by GPs listening to the symptoms described. Why did I have to experience insertion in front of a GP to prove it was painful? Why didn’t a trained doctor conclude that due to my obvious distress leading up to the internal examination, that an external examination would be better suited? Why not acknowledge that if indeed I did have vaginismus, that the internal examination could further reinforce my association of pain with penetration? At 19 years old I started worrying about future cervical smear tests. I would often become tearful when asked if I wanted to do a STI swab at the practice. My simple statement of ‘no thanks, I can’t use swabs’ was once replied with ‘oh it only goes in a little bit’.

It is impossible to approach this subject without acknowledging the current context of COVID-19 and the incredible work of NHS staff. I was given exceptional support once diagnosed and am very grateful for the therapy I received. However, this specific experience unearths a systemic issue surrounding how female pain and body autonomy is viewed and valued in modern society. These views have undoubtedly affected the prioritisation of services in the NHS, and the importance of holistic approaches to sensitive diagnoses should not be understated.

It is also incredibly important to acknowledge the privilege I have experienced as a white woman within the NHS. Stereotypes surrounding black female sexuality, of their representation as hypersexual and promiscuous (See Hart’s 2013 article), establishes a power imbalance for black female patients in healthcare systems. It is a common discourse that black women are more likely to have STDs; therefore their pain can often be dismissed. One need only emphasise the case of Loretta Ross- a black female reproductive rights activist who fell into a coma in the 1970s after being wrongly accused of having an STD for months. She was actually suffering from an unrelated infection (See Starkey and Seager’s 2017 article).

Relationships between GPs and patients intrinsically revolves around power. However profoundly wonderful and pioneering the NHS is, it has to be acknowledged that it was built within a society where power has historically stemmed from white men, especially in the context of medical diagnosis. It is this power to diagnose, and the notion that to comply with such a diagnosis means to offer up one’s physical body, that needs to continually be assessed and held to account. To what extent, and why, do certain people have to prove their pain is valid?

For more information on topics discussed in this article see the sources below:

NHS vaginismus guidelines: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaginismus/

Hart, T. 2013. Constructing Syphilis and Black Motherhood: Maternal Health Care for Women of African Descent in New York’s Columbus Hill.

Starkey, M and Seager, J. 2017. Loretta Ross: Reproductive Justice Pioneer, Co-founder of Sistersong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective.

Has the media been powerless this lockdown?

Séamus O'Hanlon on 11 June 2020

In normal times, a crisis or a major protest would thrill the press. Commentators would happily write, talk and saturate us with an issue before moving on to the next fresh controversy. Now, however, journalists seem sick of relaying the same arguments and facing the unexpected cold shoulder from central government. 

The coronavirus was said to have peaked in late April, but to the surprise of many, we are still in the early stages of our quarantine. Initially, Prime Minister and government were pulled apart by the media, condemned for missed intelligence meetings, unfeasible targets and distractions, rightfully so. But this momentum was quickly lost when the government displayed its supremacy.

The climax of this consensual onslaught was a few weeks ago, when a frenzy surrounding top government advisor Dominic Cummings occurred. He flouted his own lockdown rules when he travelled the length of the country, lying to and even chastising the press and public. The left leaning Daily Mirror and Guardian collaboratively exposed the Durham jaunt, yet red top tabloids responded angrily when the Daily Mirror called for his unemployment; in turn strengthened by the passionate and critical BBC coverage. 

Over a few days, the mainstream British media were seemingly united, all wrangling to get an answer from Boris Johnson’s uncontrite right hand man and the PM himself. A YouGov poll demonstrated complete public outrage at Cummings, with a significant 59% thinking he should resign and a rather conclusive 71% believing that he had broken lockdown rules. However, there was no apology from Cummings, no remorse or reflection from Boris Johnson who kept defending his ally, despite furious criticism. Cummings was clearly integral to our government; causing the antagonising Mail, Express and Sun’s threat to the Tories to be outweighed by one man’s value. It seems that this was a worthwhile risk, demonstrating the loss of influence the press now has on our leaders.  

Not every voice in the press was more sensible and informed than Boris Johnson or helped to secure the two-week advantage we had over Europe. But, everyone was right to challenge the initial policy of not forcing restaurants and cafes’ to close. Yet, at the time there were plenty of stories undermining the planned closure of the pub, with ‘defiant’ people going out on the last day pubs were open. 

On Good Morning Britain, there has been excessive debate about medical possibilities which though apparently has both entertaining and positive ratings, is speculative, and frames many of the issues around when will this stop affecting us.

Dr Hillary Jones at ITV is right to share their opinion, but the speculative journalism that arose from his comments doesn’t help the survival of businesses or inform the public more comprehensively. Dr Hillary Jones was right to talk about being cautious, saying on Good Morning Britain that pubs reopening too quickly is ‘the opposite of social distancing, it’s social gathering’ trying to avoid the much quoted discussion about waiting till after Christmas. But on the whole, that entire format of this journalism has created a populist, blanket criticism of the government that fails to hit the mark. 

In fact, daytime television is like a dog trying to chase its tail, tirelessly discussing face masks, immunity and vaccines, whilst the rabbit – ongoing political developments, such as EU negotiations – slowly walks past. The problem is that despite their apparent success, circumstantial, television programming has been stuck for too long in this nightmare medical segment. Whilst popular, it is also unable to hold the government accountable.

In the past, newspapers could credibly claim to have won elections, now they would be grateful to claim that they helped end lockdown by even a few days. This month, in the fallout of the Cummings Scandal, wounds have been licked and the press has diverged again. The Telegraph published several articles pressuring the government to quickly end lockdown, with an economic argument. One of their writer’s boldly headlined an article: ‘I refuse to abide by these bonkers rules any longer’, which was a strongly written article piggy-backing The Sun’s own headline, ‘BORIS BANS BONKING!’. 

These headlines – alongside lack of social distancing – are a sign that papers on the right have shifted against government caution.  Print circulation has been recorded to have fallen up to 39% over April. With articles all online, the main problem we face is that different views, some important, are inaccessible due to paywalls. The result of this is that the public are being given more partisan coverage, reflecting their own viewpoint. This therefore worsens our current political differences. Online coverage makes it easier for people to just rely on social media for their news, getting their daily dose of like-minded politics in blithe bites and forgetting about deepening their opinions. 

Listening and engaging with good journalism has never been more important; for example, reading an in-depth medical analysis or thought-provoking features on pressing issues such as Black Lives Matter. The media should be fair on the protesters, rather than whipping up more division through overly selective coverage. They have to be balanced and ought to importantly question the UK’s relationship with race. This is of course not forgetting that this new wave of protests is happening in a time when the majority of Britons are furloughed, jobless and still scared of infection.  The media lost to the government this time; however, trust and readership can be regained if they protect the powerless and remain critical of the powerful. 

Séamus O’Hanlon

Image: Pexels.