This morning, MP’s on [DCMS] The Department of Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee met with Boomtown and Parkline festival organisers to discuss the future of music festivals in the summer of 2021 and whether in-person events will be possible considering the growing safety concerns around the Covid-19 pandemic and especially now with the new UK variant of the disease forcing the country into another national lockdown. Organisers asked for government support and help to protect festivals, despite the Covid-19 virus, considering the many jobs lost and money lost in the music industry in 2020.
Parklife’s co-founder Sacha Lord explained his concerns in a statement, saying that if the government don’t help with insurance then the smaller festivals are going to drop away. Lord described that mass testing and vaccines would be necessary to allow these events to go forward, stating that social distancing does not work at any of these events. It’s a festival. You just cannot put social distancing in place. Lord continued with a optimism for the summer of 2021 and fate of the festivals saying that at that time they are anticipating that we will be operating at 100 percent.
Anna Wade, director at Boomtown, stated that festival organisers would be in financial ruin if they are unable to hold their events this summer, adding on to Parklife’s plea for insurance to go to organisers and vaccinations for festival goers. When regarding whether Parklife and Boomtown will be successful in their pleas for open doors and government financial help, this morning Steve Heap, the general secretary of the Association of Festival Organisers said that decisions made for larger music festivals will have to be decided by the end of this month, whereas decisions for smaller festivals won’t be required until later in April.
UK Music’s Jamie Njoku-Goodwin brought light to the need for these financial decisions to be made early, especially before Easter, saying that 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.
The hearing can be streamed on parlimentlive.tv after airing this morning at 10am, featuring more information of the details of the financial pleas for which Parklife, Boomtown Fair and UK Music have issued to MP’s on he Department of Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee. Information on whether they will be successful, regarding only large festivals this summer, will be available by the end of this month January 2021 and will hold the future of the UK’s live-music events for the foreseeable future.
