A petition has been launched calling for the UK government to ensure visa-free travel for artists so they can tour freely in the EU. The UK will officially fully leave the European Union on January 1st 2021, with the government having finalised a deal on December 24th.
The agreement has granted other professionals in several industries to enter the EU without a visa, unfortunately it did not include musicians in the agreement. To tour Europe, bands and artists may need to secure visas for each country they are scheduled to perform in. This will add massive costs to artists and crew members, damaging employment in an industry that has already been so harshly impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The petition appeals to the government directly, saying; “We would like the UK Govt to negotiate a free cultural work permit that gives us visa free travel throughout the 27 EU states for music touring professionals, bands, musicians, artists, TV and sports celebrities that tour the EU to perform shows and events & Carnet exception [allowing the temporary import or export of goods without having to pay duty or VAT] for touring equipment.”
The petition currently has over 61,000 signatures meaning the government have to respond to it. If the petition reaches 100,000 signatures it has to be considered for debate in Parliament. Many musicians have taken to social media to encourage people to sign the petition, including Shame, Tim Burgess and Nothing But Thieves.
So many MPs namedrop bands and artists in order for them to seem relevant/ cool. We now need them to help us.
The UK music industry contributed £5.8bn to our economy in 2019.
– for that to continue, we need to be able to tour Europe.Please signhttps://t.co/0Kj0fSmEH2
— Tim Burgess (@Tim_Burgess) December 27, 2020
The petition’s creator Tim Brennan spoke about the issue saying; “As a freelancer I and many like me travel through the EU countless times a year on different tours and events, this will become impossible due to cost and time if we do not have visa free travel.”
If you would like to sign the petition, you can do so here, you can also use this link to get in contact with your local MP about the issue.
