it was a study waiting to be done a few months into the lockdown the british council the federation of indian chambers of commerce and industry ficci and the art x company decided to get on ground to see for themselves how badly hit indias culture sector was the report aptly titled taking the temperature was released early this month and some of the figures based on responses from 9500 respondents are telling sample this 53 of events and entertainment management sector experienced 90 of their business cancelled between marchjuly 2020 41 of the creative sector has stopped functioning during lockdown 61 of organisations established between 410 years have stopped during lockdownthe shortterm impact of covid19 on the creative economy particularly msmes in india cannot be underestimated the taking the temperature report confirms the need of the hour is for institutions to take substantial coordinated and quick action if creative sectors in india are going to survive says jonathan kennedy director arts india british council indias arts sector is informal ambiguous and nobody really has ownership of it as a result artists arts organisations and freelancers are rendered vulnerable to major or minor shifts in the sociopoliticaleconomic landscapes says art xs founderdirector rashmi dhanwani citing support offered by kerala and rajasthan governments to their artists sanjoy roy cochair ficci art culture committee says there is a need to ensure equity across the country in rural and urban areas some things to look at would be policy changes in gst rates csr incentives to support the arts tax breaks for arts companies and institutions and those investing in the same edited excerptsdo you think that we as a country havent tapped seriously into our culture economy what do you think needs to be donesanjoy roy world over the cultural economy contributes intangible and tangible wealth to a community society and country in india we need to define the ecosystem that is involved in the creative and cultural sector and then evaluate its contribution eg does the cotton or indigo farmer contribute to the handloom and handicraft sector what of the simple potter with years of experience of throwing a pot on the wheel and churning out beautiful utilitarian cups and diyas what of the folks working in leather curing the skin melding it shaping it mounting it on a musical instrument what of the raagi in the gurdwara the pandal maker of bengal the lighting designer from chandannagar or the sculptors of kumartuli why would you leave out the backstage help raising the fly bar running the box office ensuring the upkeep of the theatre venue we have to demonstrate that the learning that creates the perfect bowl benaras silk or the perfect tap of the kathak dancers feet may be demonstrated in a moment but has taken generations to be refined and created therein lies the valuewhy do we need more reports and studies like taking the temperaturerashmi dhanwani because culture is identity we make sense of