Lockdown in London – COVID reflections

The broader global impact of the COVID pandemic. Assessing the Impact of 2020: Perspectives from UK, Ireland and US In Australia, we have not only closed national borders but intermittent interstate closures have made our physical worlds contract even further and concentrated our attention on our local communities and colleagues. As a glimmer of a post-COVID life emerges, we peek outside our Antipodean curtain to explore how others have fared. We are very aware that while Australia may have experienced comparatively low COVID cases, our colleagues in other countries are still battling the pandemic. Although we have all experienced the challenges brought by COVID, the situation in each country is affected particularly by other factors, and by government policy responses. We read of student hardship in the UK and wonder how this is affecting emerging artists and performers. We wonder how Brexit may impact upon future student, staff and creative arts mobility, teaching and research for our colleagues in Europe and the UK. In the US, we read media reports of drastic budget cuts in higher education and wonder what the change of administration has had on higher education and creative arts. In this edition of NiTRO we invited colleagues outside Australia to share their experiences of the impact of 2020: Lucy Brown (London South Bank University) reflects upon the benefits and challenges that online connection has brought.