The Cumbrian festival, Kendal Calling, has been cancelled for the second year in a row, highlighting the government’s delay in publicising their “long awaited research” from the Events Research Programme (ERP.)
After cancelling their 2020 event due to the Covid-19 pandemic, organisers have called the cancellation of what would have been the festival’s 15th-anniversary show “heart-breaking” and “infuriating.”
Announcing the cancellation across their social media, the festival organisers wrote: “Last Monday saw the delay of the so-called ‘Freedom Day’. As Kendal Calling sits outside of this delay, we would still be in a strong position to proceed. But Monday also saw a less publicised delay; the release of the long-awaited research from the Event Research Programme (ERP) and with it, crucially, the publication of safety guidance on how we run events.”
They continued: “Without this safety guidance, there are numerous aspects of the festival we cannot plan, and which could lay us wide open to last-minute unforeseen regulations or requirements which could scupper an already built festival. Capacity or density restrictions, track and trace protocol, testing regime, covid certification – a host of unknown actions required yet potentially requested too late to be implemented. “
Describing the past 16 months as “frankly devastating” to the festival and live music industry, the organisers highlighted the government’s failure to heed calls for a backed insurance for UK festivals and publicise the ERP findings. They wrote: “Our understanding is that the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) are keen to publish the ERP findings and guidance, but that it now does not fit around No. 10’s communications plan. This is insulting to our entire industry, who have been awaiting the results of a pilot event that took place almost 2 months ago to inform our approach to staging events safely this summer.”
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has said they were “working flat out to support festivals and live events” and had given organisers £34m as part of the Culture Recovery Fund. A spokesperson for the DCMS advised they they are “aware of wider concerns” around insurance and indemnity cover for organisers and explained: “We are exploring what further support may be required when the sector is able to reopen.”
Kendal Calling is now due to take place from 28 to 31 July 2022, and any tickets will automatically rollover.
