The long awaited guidance for the Performing Arts has now been published by the DCMS and we welcome this start to getting the performing arts back up and running again. The full government announcement is here.
We particularly welcome the reference regarding singing to the 'further scientific studies to be carried out to develop robust scientific data for these activities' and hope that this can be done thoroughly but speedily, so that a clear path can be made for all singers and their conductors across the country to return to singing in a safe manner. More than two million people sing regularly in choirs in the UK. The social impact of the loss of an activity which has been scientifically shown to improve mental health and wellbeing cannot be overestimated. The majority of choirs in the UK are non-professional and are therefore not able to go back to singing in any way at the moment. They in turn are mostly conducted by professional conductors, who are therefore not able to go back to work until their choirs are allowed to sing. Whilst current PHE guidelines do not allow for adults to meet in large gatherings, we hope that non-professional groups can be included in the guidance as soon as possible to allow choirs and their conductors to plan some community singing at the start of choirs' seasons in September.
Teachers in classroom settings should note that the guidance from the Department of Education applies rather than the DCMS guidelines.
Posted: Sat 11th July 2020