On Thursday the House of Lords European Union Committee reported on the likely implications for the cultural sector once the UK has left the European Union. It stressed the importance of freedom of movement and suggested that the UK urgently needed to find solutions, including the possibility of a ‘touring visa.’ A fuller write-up of the findings can be found at The Guardian.
The Lords report appeared a day after an interview with Chris Smith, the director of the Womad Festival, appeared in the Radio Times. He said that he has found it difficult to get musicians to perform in the 2018 festival due to a ‘difficult and humiliating’ visa process. He appeared to attribute this to a tightening of current procedures as a result of the Brexit vote.
If this really is the case—that even before Brexit musicians are thinking twice about coming to the UK—one wonders what it will be like after March 2019.