Music and Theatre for All, registered charity 1157016 

 1^st December 2020 

  
To the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport  
100 Parliament Street  
London  
SW1 2BQ  

Countless letters and articles have been written which outline the parlous state the live performing arts have found themselves over the past three years. Apart from the catastrophic loss to the treasury of a hugely successful international industry grinding to a halt (£5.8 billion a year) during the pandemic, the damage to the country’s mental health, the potential loss of a generation deprived of opportunities to see and be involved in live performance, and the devastation to people’s livelihoods, tell a story that demands a response.  

We cannot stand by and witness in silence the collapse of the entire cultural industry. It affects too many millions, professionals and non-professionals, at every level of society. Our country is crying out for new ideas, new strategies in line with the government’s Levelling Up and Let’s Create campaigns. 

At MTFA we have just such an idea. The solution that we are proposing has the potential not just to rescue, but to transform the performing arts in this country and ensure they come back better, more accessible and more resilient than ever. 

• What if the best live performance was not just pandemic proof, but woven into local life across the UK? 
• What if people didn’t have to travel far to see it, it was safe, exciting, and it didn’t cost the earth? 
• What if culture worked with and for people in the heart of their communities, in an environmentally sustainable way? 

We are working with our partners to introduce a national network of semi-permanent, recycled performance spaces, that fit in existing buildings, urban spaces and parks. Suiting a multitude of art forms, each space is built around the radical idea of a standardised ‘core’ – made up of a stage and a rig – that is adaptable, modular, and affordable. For a relatively small investment, and at a single, environmentally-friendly stroke, we can revitalise and secure the live performing arts in this country, creating thousands of jobs and opportunities, providing work for countless small businesses and freelancers, as well as investing in local communities. We are asking for your support to help bring together top professionals with schoolchildren, apprentices and local amateurs, and leaving a lasting legacy of creative innovation and regeneration. 

We all want Britain to lead the way in the world. It is good for everyone – as long as our ideas are of value, and if we share them with compassion and understanding – and it is vital for our economy.  

By supporting this idea, you will not only be helping an industry which has been on its knees for the last three years, you would also send a signal to the world: Britain is still at the forefront of cultural innovation.  

The cultural landscape is changing. The future with which we’re faced will be more local. Cities, work practices, community life: everything is changing. On top of this we are experiencing an environmental crisis which demands immediate action. When people go out, pandemic or not, they do not want to travel far.  

In short, it has never been more important for the best of our culture, the best of our live entertainment, to be accessible to as many people as possible, on their doorstep.  

Once on its feet, the network we are proposing is self-financing, turning a profit for the companies that work within its model. And the return on the investment to the country as a whole will be huge: it is nothing less than a revitalised cultural sector worth billions to the economy, and a working, sustainable, future-proof industry, accessible to and benefitting everybody, and rightly famous across the world.  We are in discussions with private social impact investors now, as well as NOP organisations such as the National Theatre and the Royal Opera House and local government. But we need central government backing too.

It’s time to build the new different. 

Yours sincerely, 

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