The UK Government Has Been Warned That Without Covid Insurance And A Restart Date That Festivals May Not Go Ahead in 2021
It’s the news that none of us wanted to hear but festival organisers have warned MP’s that without Covid Insurance and an outlined plan festivals and other events may not run in 2021.
UK Music is calling on the government to provide an indicative date for full capacity restart, so that the industry may prepare. The governing body has also released the report ‘Let The Music Play: Save Our Summer 2021. Which details the importance of the industry and how it can return safely post-pandemic.
The creative industries together adds a massive £101.5 billion a year to the economy. This is more than the automotive, aerospace, life sciences, oil and gas industries combined. In 2020 the live music industry was worth £1.3 billion – even though it had been hit particularly hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, seeing 90% of gigs cancelled throughout the year.
Festival revenue also dropped by 90.2% in 2020 with fears of redundancies for up to 50% of the workforce, according to the Association of Independent Festivals.
Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, UK Music chief Executive has said:
“While this pandemic is still raging and continues to cause devastation to lives and livelihoods today, there is an endpoint in sight.Government is rolling out the vaccine and is openly speculating about returning to normal by the spring – but there is a serious risk that even if this proves to be a reality, lack of notice and available insurance options will mean much of the 2021 summer music season can’t go ahead.” He continues, “In this report, UK Music is putting forward a clear plan for recovery: what we need to do to get the live performance sector back up on its feet again in 2021. But the clock is ticking, and any day soon we could see major festivals and events start pulling the plug for lack of certainty.”
Although it all feels so uncertain at the moment and the idea of going to a show feels alien right now, with good planning and support from the Government we could still get some form of a summer season. Although looking at the Government’s handling of the pandemic that may be pretty unlikely (at this rate).
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