A new report is calling for renewed confidence in culture to boost the economic recovery as Britain gets back on its feet after more than a year of Covid-19 lockdowns.

The creative cluster in London’s South Bank and Waterloo, which is home to several of the UK’s biggest cultural powerhouses, is a major driver for employment and international investment. Engine of Recovery: Culture on the South Bank & Waterloo reveals the pre-pandemic social and economic contribution of five leading arts institutions – The National Theatre, Southbank Centre, Rambert, The Old Vic and Young Vic.

Before the pandemic, the five venues collectively provided 8,100 Full-time Equivalent (FTE) jobs and £510m in Gross Value Added (GVA) across the UK.

As well as generating thousands of jobs within the wider hospitality and leisure industry, the cluster has long been a cornerstone for London’s creative freelance community. The Southbank Centre alone worked with over 100,000 artists and creatives in the year before the pandemic. The report is clear on the need to build back and protect the legacy of the South Bank and Waterloo as a flagship cultural destination for London.

The research has been published by South Bank Business Improvement District (BID) and Lambeth Council in the year of the 70th anniversary of The Festival of Britain – a moment that celebrated the power of culture and entertainment in aiding the recovery of Britain after WWII.

The report’s foreword presents a unified voice from chiefs of the five venues behind the research. They say:
“The creative sector has huge potential to stimulate London’s recovery. The ambition is to be able once more to create new jobs, attract national and international visitors, and reanimate our public spaces, as we gradually emerge from this devastating period. We urge everyone to make a commitment to culture. Then, just as the Festival of Britain did seven decades ago, today’s creative hub at the South Bank and Waterloo will again be able to reinvigorate the nation with a spirit of openness, inclusivity and excitement.”

The report states:
“The South Bank and Waterloo cluster will play a significant role in the recovery of central London and the UK as lockdown restrictions recede. With a combination of private and public investment, this unique part of London will provide the tonic that Britain needs to bring it out of post-pandemic convalescence into good cultural and economic health, full of the creative energy for which this country is rightly known.”

Pre-pandemic (2018/19):
→ The joint core economic impact of five major South Bank and Waterloo cultural institutions is estimated at 8,100 FTE jobs and £510m in GVA across the UK
→ The total direct income for the five institutions was £180m
→ For every direct job across the five cultural institutions, a further 2.5 jobs are created in the wider regional and national economy
→ The institutions welcomed over 4m visitors, who between them made 5.6 million separate visits

And today (2020/21):
→ Cumulative economic losses will amount to £330m of GVA and an estimated 5,500 FTE jobs in the UK as a result of the pandemic and the associated restrictions on the institutions.
→ Collectively, the five institutions will have lost at least £130m
→ 1,170 FTE staff were furloughed, equivalent to seven out of eight staff
→ The institutions projected on site visitors to be less than 50,000
→ The institutions collectively received £35.8m of emergency funding from the government’s Culture Recovery Fund. Of that, £30.6m is in the form of loans and £5.2m in grants.

The organisations have worked hard to sustain their social value during this period. Seeking to reduce the isolation that lockdowns could cause, they provided the local and wider community with new ways of
learning and engaging with the arts online and often for free, such as the Southbank Centre’s Art by Post scheme and the Rambert Home Studio.

Organisations are urging visitors to take part in the recovery by supporting the reopening of public programmes and following Covid safety guidelines on site.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, says:
“The South Bank and Waterloo area has been an epicentre for culture in our city ever since the Festival of Britain brought people together 70 years ago. The area helped to drive an economic recovery then and will do so again as one of the most visited and well-loved cultural spaces in London. We know that when London thrives, the whole country benefits, and that’s why through my domestic tourism campaign Let’s Do London I continue to encourage Londoners and tourists to safely return to our capital to enjoy our range of world-class theatres, galleries, cinemas and music venues, including the South Bank and Waterloo.”