Manchester Council bosses has urged the government to support the city's theatres and music venues. The culture sector is one of the worst hit during the pandemic. There is a huge fear of thousands of jobs being lost if the government doesn't do more to help out. With no date of when venues can re-open, Councillor Luthfur Rahman, Manchester council's cultural lead, has sent an open letter to culture secretary Oliver Dowden expressing his huge concerns.

Rahman wrote, "We will not stand by in Manchester and watch our theatres, museums, and galleries take their last gasp.

Every day we hear from organisations across the city that tell us they are coming closer and closer to their final curtain. Without more support, and crucially without being able to have a say in what support is needed and what the future could look like if the right support was in place, this could easily be the end of the road for many artists and cultural organisations, and for what has been for generations the life-blood of our city. Culture and the arts are in Manchester's DNA and have shown themselves time and a gain to be central to the city's enduring strength, resilience, and world-wide reputation.

We need urgent action now to keep the cultural heart beating, not just of our city but that of the whole country. 

As rightful recognition and long overdue payback for the massive sums of money that the cultural sector in Manchester and the rest of the country has for years put directly into the economy.

And of course this isn't just about at-risk jobs in the cultural sector itself - the cultural economy supports a huge number of other jobs as part of the wider visitor economy, in hotels, bars, shops, restaurants, retail, local taxis - all of which livelihoods depend on.

Now more than ever it's vital too that we don't forget the positive impact our cultural and creative sector has on our society - on health, well-being, and education, across all age groups from young to old. Unless a life-line is sent and sent soon, this will be gone.

It's time to say thank you to our cultural sector for all of this, and, in these unprecedented times - to finally put some much-needed vital investment back into the industry without delay, before the lights get switched off for ever."

ManchesterTheatres.com and PrideOfManchester.com will support the local theatres in any way we can. With more and more events being rescheduled and added for future months, we are hoping there's some hope for the industry sooner rather than later.