AustLit

'We publish this issue in extraordinarily bleak times – a plague year in which the public gatherings which underpin our discipline have been banned for the foreseeable future to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus. This follows a southern summer in which such substantial tracts of Australia burnt so fiercely that it sent a pall of smoke over parts of New Zealand. In Australasia, we have been ‘staying at home’ for close to two months, and our theatres are dark. The effects on the sector have been swift and devastating, as Jo Caust pointed out a month into the lockdown:

This past week the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed arts and recreation is the hardest hit of all the sectors most affected by government-imposed shutdowns in Australia. At least 53% of the sector is no longer functioning and it is likely these figures will worsen in the coming weeks. Now, researchers at the Grattan Institute have estimated up to 26% of the Australian workforce are likely to lose their jobs due to pandemic shutdowns and restrictions – but this rises to 75% for those employed in the creative and performing arts.' (Yoni Prior : Editorial introduction)