Festivals are calling for Government-backed Covid cancellation scheme to save our summer

- Glasgow Summer Sessions 2018 — Photo credit: press team

Organisers of the hundreds of festivals planned for this summer are warning that if the government does not follow other European countries and offer to underwrite Covid cancellation insurance, they may be forced to pull the plug to avoid possible bankruptcy.

Since the announcement of the national roadmap out of lockdown early this year, hundreds of events have announced dates for 2021 and millions of tickets have been sold.

In the intervening months there's been an ever increasing number of postponements and cancellation with the organisers citing the industry's biggest issue, the lack of a Government-backed Covid-cancellation insurance, which despite constant campaigning from the live music industry hasn’t become a reality.

The music industry, festival organisers and promoters are desperate for a government backed indemnity scheme. This would operate like a form of insurance by providing financial support if events were to close the gates because of a sudden local coronavirus outbreak or forced national lockdown - even if everyone on site were completely unaffected. There is already a similar scheme in place for television and film in the film and TV production restart scheme which was announced in July last year.

Many organisers of the festivals planned for 2021 that we have listed on eFestivals have stated that without this indemnity, the risks are simply too high for them to continue planning their event. To do so would not only put their event this year at risk, but the long-term survival of their event in future years. Organisers are pragmatic bunch and whilst they plan their events to be completely safe for festivalgoers, a possible outbreak elsewhere could force them to halt their event without notice.

Yesterday's Guardian, included a business news piece (here) about the issue which explained: "The national reopening timetable, largely unchanged since it was announced in February, will allow mass gatherings from late June. But scheduling a post-pandemic event brings significant financial risk, as a local or national spike in coronavirus cases could lead to a last-minute cancellation by public health authorities, which would leave festival organisers with huge losses."

Those festivals who have cancelled, we have listed over 40 this month alone so far, do ask festival goers to hold on to their tickets a little longer. Keeping hold of your tickets is the biggest thing you can do to support festivals and events, during this time.

The Guardian article also reveals that the organisers of hundreds of live music festivals planned for this summer are warning that if the government does not follow other European countries and offer to underwrite Covid cancellation insurance, they may be forced to pull the plug on this summer.

Our coronavirus updates page, (here), is seeing an ever increasing number of event organisers making the decision not to hold their event based solely on the lack of Covid-specific cancellation insurance from the government. The latest cancellations include Leopallooza, Boomtown Fair, Cornbury Music Festival, Bluedot, Cambridge Folk Festival, Wychwood Festival, Shambala, Bearded Theory, Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, and British Summer Time.

At a time when demand for festival tickets has never been so high thanks to consumer confidence in outdoor events, the industry is being hamstrung by the lack of a Government-backed Covid-cancellation insurance.

As the organisers of Boomtown explained in their statement this week, (here): "With less than four months to go until the event, and after almost half a year of collective campaigning to the government, sadly COVID specific cancellation insurance for events simply does not exist at this point in time. This means anyone putting on an event this year, will be doing so without the safety net of insurance to cover them should COVID prevent them from going ahead in any capacity. For an independent event as large and complex as Boomtown, this means a huge gamble into an 8-figure sum to lose if we were to venture much further forward, and then not be able to go ahead due to COVID.

"Although we have recently been awarded a very generous grant from the Arts Council England, which we are incredibly grateful for and throws us a vital and necessary lifeline, the reality is it represents only a fraction of the costs (under 10%) involved in creating an event to the sheer scale and ambition of Boomtown, and only goes so far to plugging the deficit left from not being able to run our event, now for two years in a row, and most pressingly does not solve the problem of lack of insurance."

Across Europe in countries like Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Holland they have a guarantee fund, which will not even be used if an outbreak does not halt a festival happening. For instance, the Dutch government has reserved over €300 million for a cancellation fund which allows event organisers to plan for the second half of 2021 without the financial risk posed by a potential Covid outbreak.

As reported by Kongress, (here): "This fund is a dot on the horizon for festival organizers. They can fall back on the guarantee fund in which at least €300m has been reserved. The event industry has long come to a standstill due to Corona. Guarantee is needed to get it back on track."

We desperately need such a scheme here in the UK to protect our summer. Festivals are working hard to ensure they can operate completely safely this summer. Cases nationally of Covid-19 continue to decline. But, it would appear, despite all the efforts to reach 'near normal', that because of the lack of protection against a spike in coronavirus forcing a last-minute cancellation, festival organisers are left to gamble with the worrying possibility of huge losses which would mean the end of their event in future.

At a time when other governments internationally are stepping up and helping, it's surely time for our government to do the same, and enable festivals to happen as planned this summer.

discuss this news on the Festival Forums