Manchester’s Cultural Impact Survey from 2021/22 was released yesterday with a number of key figures being revealed, particularly the impact of covid restrictions on the city.
In a meeting at Manchester City Council yesterday, the survey was released which has highlighted a massive drop in numbers to the city’s cultural sector
In a survey of a number of cultural venues, it was revealed that in total there was a footfall of 3.6 million. This is a drop of 56% pre-pandemic.
Cultural venues in the city range from museums to music venues to theatres and many more.
It was a similar story for in-person audiences across cultural organisations, in total they saw three million total audiences, a drop of 49%, despite having a similar number of events in Manchester in that time.
The drop in numbers can largely be put down to the major covid restrictions that were in place for the city for most of 2021.
Principal Policy Officer for Manchester City Council, Sarah Elderkin, said: “This is a lasting impact of those covid restrictions.”
Ms Ederkin added: “It wasn’t until the very end of this period that the government withdraw all of the mandatory restrictions.”
Another figure in the report showed that from the 45 cultural organisations surveyed, 25 (58%) of which have a plan in progress to reduce carbon emissions.
This feeds back into the council’s plan for the city to be a “zero carbon city” by 2038, 12 years ahead of the Government’s target of 2050 for the whole country.
Commenting on the report, Councillor and Deputy Leader Luthfur Rahman said: “The priority post-pandemic now is the big emphasis through the cultural leaders’ group in making sure we are truly reflective of the population of our city.”
The Manchester Cultural Impact Survey 2021/2022 can be accessed here