AS ARTS events in and around Petersfield and nationally are cancelled one after another, a local artist fears the arts industry may suffer a catastrophic loss of income from which it may take years to recover.

Nationally, opera, gigs, concerts, plays, musicals, film making and launches, TV productions and related work and events have all been cancelled.

In 2019, the creative arts industry contributed around £117 billion to the national economy, employing more than two million people either directly or indirectly.

Latest figures show coronavirus is set to lose the sector £74bn, and cost up to 400,000 jobs.

Artist Oenone Hammersley of West Meon says the effect could be devastating unless the government offers immediate financial support.

She said: “It looks unlikely at the moment that any arts events of any kind – theatre, music, visual arts, sculpture or painting – will go ahead until at least the autumn, with some saying it will be next year before they can open again.

“And how can theatres and cinemas, for example, pay if they can have only half or a third the number of customers and have to sanitise everything after every show?

“In the worst case, some of our world-famous national theatres and opera venues could close forever.

“And our great museums will suffer, and artists of all disciplines will struggle if galleries remain shut, and exhibitions don’t go ahead.”

Since lockdown was imposed in March, comedy nights in Petersfield, live bands in local pubs, art exhibitions in the town, plays in the Festival Theatre, and the annual Shakespeare Festival, among others, have been cancelled or postponed.

Oenone, who has just returned from her annual painting trip in America, added: “Smaller regional theatres and venues outside London are at definite risk, and local venues in Petersfield and Winchester could very easily close, or the theatre groups that depend on live performances for income be so badly affected they don’t recover.

“And these are the grass roots of a world-class arts industry that attracts visitors from across the globe, and is universally respected as a producer of talent.”

Oenone, who studied theatre design, said that virtual ‘theatre or concerts’ – whereby audiences paid to view either in cinemas or at home on their television – weren’t the answer.

She said: “Whatever music, or style of theatre you like, it’s all about the atmosphere, the performance, the live event – and that needs to be protected and helped now.

“It’s the same for artwork. To be moved, you need to actually see it, I think, rather than view it online.

“The whole industry needs financial support before its damaged for ever.”