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Freelance workers, such as artists, often fall through the cracks when it comes to state support Photo: Drastic Graphics
I like to say that I have never had a job. I also like to say that I have never been out of work. The answer to this paradox is that I have always been a freelance. It has not made me rich, but it has made me happy. Which is why I feel so miserable about the prospects nowadays for anyone trying to live the freelance life.
We all know how much the arts have suffered during the present pandemic, with theatres and concert halls shut, museums and galleries closed or half-empty. All the normal ways in which we can meet and exchange ideas, the informal marketplace in which the arts can flourish, have been stifled. We have been confined to virtual reality, but the actual reality is that we face a profound crisis of creativity.