17 April 2020
This regular update is produced by UNESCO as a snapshot on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the culture sector worldwide and on the responses initiated at the national, local and regional level. This tracker is not intended to be an exhaustive presentation of measures but instead draws on a variety of sources to provide a broad overview of the evolving situation worldwide.
Responding to the social and economic implications of the pandemic, several governments have announced measures targeted at the whole economy, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises or individual entrepreneurs, which are more vulnerable. However, some policy measures specific to the culture sector have already been announced or enacted - by ministries of culture and specialized cultural institutions, at the national and local levels - fostering access to culture in confinement and mitigating the economic impact on the sector.
Some countries have announced overall support packages, either through their Culture Ministries or specialised culture agencies, including, Tunisia, Chile (US$ 17m), Colombia (US$ 29m), Norway (US$ 28m) and Singapore (US$ 1.1m). Italy is providing support for the performing arts and audiovisual sectors (US$ 146). In addition, France has announced support funds by sub-sector: for music, books, visual arts and regional cultural bodies (US$ 18.8m in total). In China, funds have also been announced at a regional level, including US$ 56m by the Government of Guangdong Province for cultural and tourism businesses, with a further US$ 7m for the 1325 movie theatres impacted by the crisis, in the form of tax return from last year.
For more information, please visit this webpage.
Permanent link: http://en.unesco.kz/culture-covid-19-impact-and-response-tracker