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The Federation of Small Businesses wants the next Scottish Government to pilot bread funds, a collective insurance scheme where the self-employed help each other in hard times A HOLLAND-derived scheme where the self-employed support each other financially through ill health, injury or loss of earnings, should be piloted by the next Scottish Government to address shortcomings in support. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSA) in Scotland has suggested a collective insurance scheme could help restore confidence in a sector that had been “knocked for six” by the pandemic. A major study, commissioned by the FSA and involving 700 small business owners found that three fifths (420) felt the Covid crisis had made self-employment less attractive as a career option because of the financial risks and lack of security.
These theaters innovated amid a dramatic change of scene
By Don Aucoin Globe Staff,Updated December 18, 2020, 9:59 a.m.
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Nicholas Edwards as Jesus in the Berkshire Theatre Groupâs socially distanced production of âGodspell in Pittsfield.Sara Krulwich/New York Times
If necessity is the mother of invention, this year presented the mother of all challenges for theater professionals. How to stay connected with audiences when their usual venues are dark and silent?
Some inventive answers to that question emerged as the year went on. Here are a few that stood out:
Fresh Ink Theatre and its artistic director, Louise Hamill, devised an ingenious way to strengthen the bond with audiences by involving them in the act of creating theater while also raising money. The small theater company offered audience members a chance to bid on prompts related to the plot and characters of a nonexistent play, and then professional playwrights constructed a short drama from