UK, artists worried about Brexit write to Johnson: negotiate visa-free travel!

Brexit could have a major impact on the creative world in the United Kingdom: in particular, it is the ability to move from Britain to the continent that is affected, as a British visa is now required to enter the European Union. For the country’s artists and creatives, this is no small bureaucratic hurdle, which could lead to many having to stop working with the continent. Thus, artists and cultural and creative professionals have launched a petition and written a letter to the Kingdom’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, asking the government to renegotiate the terms of Brexit by making sure there is visa-free travel to Europe for artists and creatives.

The petition, launched this month by a practitioner, Tim Brennan, had set a goal of reaching 100,000 signatures, but has currently collected more than 280,000. “We would like the U.K. government,” the text reads, “to negotiate a free cultural work permit that would give us the ability to travel visa-free across the 27 countries of the European Union: this for music professionals, bands, musicians, artists, television and sports celebrities who travel around Europe to organize shows and events.”

The United Kingdom, the petition further states, “has a large music and events industry, which has suffered immensely because of Covid. After the end of the transition period, we will face further difficulties when trying to travel for work in the European Union, with all the countries potentially asking us for a visa, which could only be valid for one trip.” The government responded to the petition on January 14, letting it know that similar measures had been proposed during negotiations, but the EU had rejected them. The issue was then debated in Parliament on Feb. 8, with many parliamentarians stressing the need to find measures that would help creative professionals travel smoothly in Europe.

“These are bleak times for British creatives,” reads instead the text of the letter that several leading names in the Kingdom’s art, music, film and creative industries addressed to Johnson on Feb. 15. “We are actors, singers, dancers, designers, directors, stage managers, comedians, audiovisual artists, performers and creatives, represented by Equity, our union: we have a great passion for our crafts and want to continue working. But the current Brexit deal is a difficult hurdle to overcome. Before, we could travel to Europe without a visa. Now we have to pay hundreds of pounds, fill out form after form, and wait weeks before approval-only after this process can we work. Some of us have already lost our jobs in Europe, or lost job opportunities, because of the costs and red tape we now have to deal with if we want to work with British talent.”

“Mr. Prime Minister,” the artists write addressing Johnson, “we call on you to negotiate new terms with the European Union, allowing creatives to travel to the European Union without visas for work, and for our European counterparts to do the same in the United Kingdom. Failure to act now means causing further irreparable damage to the UK’s creative workforce, our industries, and our ability to remain on the international stage of culture.” The government’s work, however, will go forward, Caroline Dineage let it be known, anticipating, however, that the UK is unlikely to seek agreement with the European Union, trying, if anything, to agree “visa-free” travel with individual member countries. This seems to be currently the route the government will try to take.

UK, artists worried about Brexit write to Johnson: negotiate visa-free travel!

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