Creative arts workers during the Covid-19 pandemic: Social imaginaries in lockdown

Abstract

The arts and creative industries are among those most affected by government measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. This article discusses a qualitative survey study, open between August and October 2020, with creative arts workers living in Victoria, Australia. The study explored experiences of disruptions to work and broader impacts on daily lives during the pandemic. In this article, we examine how participants discuss their work and circulate pre-existing and create new <i>intensified</i> social imaginaries of a devalued and ignored arts sector in Australia. Our analysis points to how people understand their lives, work and communities amidst a global pandemic in relation to and entangled with particular social imaginaries of the creative arts.