Was it Doomsday? First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on the Polish Cultural Industry

Abstract Research purpose. The COVID-19 pandemic has become a theme of the research on the functioning of the economy and particular industries. The same concerns were raised regarding the issue of the cultural industry. Therefore, the content of this paper was dictated by the recognition of the impact of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic on the activities of the cultural industry in Poland. The formulated research question reads: “How did the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic impact the economic standing of the Polish cultural industry?” Design / Methodology / Approach. The conducted literature review, whose purpose was to recognise the threads of the scientific discourse on the pandemic and cultural industry together with the cultural issues of business activity in a broad sense, was based on the use of the VOSviewer software, based on the data obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection. This concerned publications from January 1, 2020, to April 4, 2022. The part of the paper that leads to answering the research question uses the inductive method. It is based on the analysis of the quantitative data and information obtained from Statistics Poland (GłównyUrządStatystyczny), research reports as well as media releases. Findings. It was determined that in the first year of the pandemic, the number of cultural events, as well as the number of their participants, drastically decreased. There was also a change in the structure and value of expenditures of the citizens of Poland. This caused a drastic fall in revenues from the activity conducted by cultural institutions at the beginning of 2020. The situation improved after the disbursement of the government aid. However, even one year after the first lockdown, the increased debt of the art industry can be pointed out. Originality / Value / Practical implications. Determining in a broad way the impact of the first wave of the pandemic on the cultural industry in Poland concerning the economic standing is a novel approach. The previous studies focused on the situation of particular types of cultural institutions and possibly on the people associated with them. Due to its specificity, the conducted research also makes it possible to identify potential research problems relating to this industry. On the one hand, these potential studies are in line with the research threads represented in world literature. On the other hand, they concerned the specificity of the Polish cultural industry.