James Haddrell on a cultural success story

James Haddrell, the artistic and executive director of Greenwich Theatre, reflects on one of the pandemic’s cultural success stories.

In many ways, although government guidance on isolation is still presenting challenges to a full and confident reopening (our own summer rep season opens today, 8 days late, due to company members having to isolate), the arts are beginning to breathe a cautious sigh of relief.

The pandemic has wrought havoc on an industry that relies on human interaction, and we are all keen to see theatres, art galleries and music venues full again, but there is much discussion about the online opportunities discovered by artists over the last 18 months and the innovation demonstrated by those forced to explore new remote stages to share their work. As doors gradually reopen, the most exciting development in the cultural life of this country may be a gradual fusion of the diverse ways in which artists reach out to audiences.

According to The Economist, 25 million people in the UK visited a cultural site online or attended a virtual event in the first eight months of the pandemic, and research suggests that this is not a move towards greater consumption online as an alternative to attendance at live events, but rather that it enhances people’s appetite to attend live events as well.

One project that stands out for its response to the challenges of the pandemic is run by London based Modus Arts. Launched across England in 2019 following a more local pilot, the project seeks to uncover and celebrate the experiences of the British Pakistani community arriving in the UK between 1960 and 1980, through the unique lens of analogue cassette tapes.

While many in this country were using tapes to record music from the radio, Pakistani migrants were recording messages on tape to exchange with their families and loved ones in Pakistan, often congregating as a family to listen together to the latest messages. Dubbed ‘Tape Letters’ by project director Wajid Yaseen, this ambitious project originally sought to unearth surviving tapes, translating and transcribing the contents, and to interview members of the community who remember the practice of recording these tapes.

Whilst the project is built on oral history practices, Yaseen is fundamentally a sound artist and the final outcomes should have included a series of exhibition installations around the country, combining found audio with images of interviewees. With lockdown restrictions affecting every stage of the project, community outreach and interviews had to be moved online. The subsequent exhibitions have now been reimagined as a series of online events, from ground-breaking experimentation in online gallery spaces to interactive events hosted by Yaseen himself. Featured as part of South Asian Heritage Month, and picked up for a feature on BBC’s Sunday Live, the impact of the project has easily matched that intended in the original plans.

As Yaseen moves forward with further plans to celebrate the use of Tape Letters, it seems that a fusion of online and in person engagement is inevitable – something which I think artists across the world will be exploring in the years ahead.