Please see below latest updates from SOLT and UK Theatre and please sign-up below to the webinars taking place this week.

UPDATES

Guidance on mental health
The UK Government have issued new guidance on mental health and well-being which you may want to share with your workforce.

Do you have theatre people can watch from home?
The government has put together an ongoing list of theatre, music and dance shows to watch from home during this period. If you would like your theatre’s show added, email info@theculturediary.com.

 Northern Ireland – Support for artists
Northern Ireland Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey MLA is exploring options to introduce a new £1million COVID-19 Creative Support Fund which will be a mechanism to support individual artists and institutions.

£500m Welsh Fund
Today the Welsh Government announced a £500m Economic Resilience Fund to further support businesses forced to temporarily cease trading. It is made up of two elements: 1) a new £100m Development Bank of Wales fund available for companies experiencing cash flow problems as a result of the pandemic and will provide loans of between £5,000 and £250,000; and 2) businesses will also be able to benefit from a £400m emergency pot. They say this is part of their ‘commitment as a Welsh Government to fill the gaps and support the economy and businesses through this incredibly difficult time.’

Creative Industries’ Survey 
Please take the time to fill out this survey, preferably by end of play today (Monday 30 March). This will help evidence gaps in government support, make a case for proposed solutions, and ensure the wider creative sector’s voice is heard.

Protected Characteristics
The Women and Equality Committee wants to hear about the different and disproportionate impact that the Coronavirus – and measures to tackle it – is having on people with protected characteristics under the Equality Act. If you would like to, please respond directly before Thursday 30 April 2020. For example, Stonewall has reiterated that for some LGBT people, the risks of homelessness, insecure employment, restricted access to healthcare and other inequalities will deepen as a result of the health crisis; and the BBC has reported that ‘children with special educational needs and their families may be particularly affected by school closures.’

#WorldTheatreDay (Friday 27 March)
Please visit Official London Theatre and UK Theatre’s Twitter feed to see a collection of some of our favourite things that happened on World Theatre Day, on social media and beyond.

REMINDERS
Webinars – sign-up now
This week we are hosting a range of webinars to advise members, freelancers and other industry groups on the government’s latest announcements for the Self-Employed and the Employee Retention Scheme. Please sign up to the relevant webinar below.

Please help us to spread the word to the freelancers/self-employed who work in technical/backstage theatres or production roles to ensure they join us for their webinar.

• Freelancers’ webinar (for technical/backstage and/or production roles) – Tues 31 March at 11.30am – 12.30pm. To register, click here.
• SOLT & UK Theatre members’ webinar – Tues 31 March at 2.30pm – 3.30pm. To register, click here.
• Agents and casting webinar – Wed 1 April at 11.00am – 11.30am. To register, click here.

Once you have registered, you will be approved by us manually and sent a further email with dial-in information.

Sharing your press statements, campaigns and initiatives
We continue to respond to media enquiries and provide comments on behalf of the industry – if you receive any press requests, please notify us and contact eva@soltukt.co.uk for the latest SOLT and UK Theatre briefing information.

Theatre charities campaign
Please visit the newly launched website. Please do share and retweet our social posts about this initiative.

Member support
Please continue to email ceooffice@soltukt.co.uk with any questions, comments and/or concerns. There are dedicated pages on both the SOLT and UK Theatre websites where you will find all of our updates.

CEO Office
Society of London Theatre & UK Theatre