Pandemic Preparedness in the Live Performing Arts: Lessons to Learn from COVID-19
Project funded by the British Academy, 2023-2024, as part of the BA’s Pandemic Preparedness research portfolio. BA project page here.
This project examines the lessons learned from how governmental, charity, and informal support for organisations and workers in the performing arts across the G7, especially the UK, Germany, USA, and Canada, impacted the workforce, the type of outputs produced, and the resilience of the industry.
Dan Strutt, “Dancing Into the Metaverse,” Mocap Streamer, 2021
Our objective is to provide evidence-based policy recommendations that will enable industry professionals and support structures to move from the reactive mode they adopted during the lockdown years to a proactive mode that anticipates future shocks and renders the industry more resilient. Key to achieving this is identifying what worked best, where, and why, and sifting the available literature to base comparisons on high-quality research and comparable data to identify gaps and areas for further research.
Research team:
Professor Pascale Aebischer, University of Exeter and Dr Karen Gray, University of Bristol, with Blakeney Clark (research assistant); Dr Kelsey Jacobson, Queen's University, Canada with Meghan Lindsay (research assistant); Professor Barbara Fuchs, University of California, Los Angeles – UCLA with Rhonda Sharrah (research assistant); Dr Heidi Lucja Liedke Goethe-University, Frankfurt with Ronja Koch (research assistant).
Research associates:
Jonah Salz (Ryukoku University) and Kojima Hirotomo (Professional College of Arts and Tourism, Hyogo Prefecture); Caroline Demeyère (Copenhagen Business School) and Stéphanie Havet-Laurent (INSEEC Grande École, Lyon); Luca Antoniazzi (Università di Pollenzo).
Project Partners:
Something To Aim For and Freelancers Make Theatre Work
Project Outputs:
Reports, Press Releases, Webinars and Policy Recommendations:
- Pandemic Preparedness in the Live Performing Arts: Lessons to Learn from COVID-19: summary report with policy recommendations for the UK Creative Industries and government. British Academy, March 2024.
- Pandemic Preparedness in the Live Performing Arts: full project report, with detailed data analysis of UK, USA, Germany and Canada and overviews of Italy, France and Japan, March 2024.
- Resilient Stages: Live Performing Arts and Crisis Policy after COVID-19: webinar, with Stephanie Fraser, Baroness Fraser of Craigmaddie, APPG Dance Co-Chair, board member of Creative Scotland and Chief Executive of Cerebral Palsy Scotland and representatives of ACE, SoLT/UK Theatre, Talawa and our project partners Something To Aim For and Freelancers Make Theatre Work. 26 March 2024.
- USA-specific research findings and policy recommendations: For a Resilient US Theater, Post-Pandemic: Report and Recommendations, HowlRound Theatre Commons; launch event For a Resilient US Theater, Post-Pandemic, 3 April 2024; Learning from the Pandemic to Build a Resilient US Theater, 20 May 2024.
- Canada-specific research findings and policy recommendations in English and French, with an Indigenous response: Pandemic Preparedness: Lessons for Canada’s Performing Arts from Across the G7, May 2024.
- German press release about the project, 28 March 2024.
Journal publications:
Aebischer, P. V., Gray, K. C. R., Antoniazzi, L., Demeyère, C., Fuchs, B., Jacobson, K., … Sharrah, R. (2025). Cultural Value in a Time of Crisis: Public Debates and Governmental Discourses in the G7 Nations. Contemporary Theatre Review, 35(2–3), 107–128. https://doi-org.uoelibrary.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/10486801.2025.2538433
Antoniazzi, L. (2026). Missed opportunities? An analysis of Italy’s policy response to COVID-19 in cinema and the performing arts1. Cultural Trends, 1–17. https://doi-org.uoelibrary.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/09548963.2026.2638441
Hussler, Caroline, Stéphanie Havet-Laurent, Camille de Bovis and Caroline Demeyère (2026). Unpacking the Imprint of a Crisis : Performing Arts Organizations Faced with COVID-19 [Décrypter l’empreinte d’une crise : les organisations du spectacle vivant face à la Covid-19]. Revue internationale de psychosociologie et de gestion des comportements organisationnels – RIPCO 32.1, 58-86.
Liedke, H. L. (2025). Theatre Meets Technology and Other Forms of Crisis Management: Reparative Positions, Covidian Love Affairs, Transformations. Contemporary Theatre Review, 35(2–3), 181–194. https://doi-org.uoelibrary.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/10486801.2025.2538432