Salford based arts workers have weighed in on Sunak’s suggestion that arts workers find new jobs.

Rishi Sunak has said: “I can’t pretend that everyone can do exactly the same job that they were doing at the beginning of this crisis”.

A statement that has left Salford arts workers fuming.

Salford resident and Costume Assistant for BBC Children’s show Crackerjack, Owen Thornton, 28, said: “it’s going to be highly detrimental to folk’s mental health, […] in terms of being told they have no use within society.”

Local actor James Ward added in an impassioned video response to Sunak: “it just shows that you [Sunak] don’t understand what young creative people go through every day.”

Speaking on the reality of life for the everyday arts worker, James added: “You [Sunak] suggest getting trained up in other jobs and other professions and other industries, well, how do you think we fund our passions?

I do work in a bar, and I am a young creative, and it won’t stop me just because of what he [Sunak] said.”

Home to MediaCityUK, Salford makes up one of the largest presences in the UK’s art and media scene.

Peel Media was granted the development contract for Media City in 2007.

By 2013, ITV had begun phase one of their move to the Quays after BBC had chosen the now 200-acre site for operation in 2004.

And as recently as 2016, a £1 billion investment in the expansion of the site had begun.

Investment on such a large and consistent scale truly highlights the importance of the arts and its workers to Salford and its economy.

 

 

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