Analysis
GOVERNMENTS ESTABLISH FINANCIAL SAFETY NET FOR FESTIVALS
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he Norwegian government has become the latest European power to commit funds to support a return to live events – creating a NOK350million (€34m) cancellation insurance fund for festivals that should allow organisers to plan for this summer without the financial risk posed by a potential Covid outbreak. Norway’s minister of culture, Abid Raja, announced in a press conference in early February that the financial safety net will help organisers plan for July and August. “[The insurance pot is] to create predictability now, so that the industry can start planning different scenarios and be confident that if things go wrong, we will stand up for them,” said Raja during the conference. “We must plan for all scenarios so that the festival industry and the summer industry will have se-
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curity that there is a minimum of safety nets here. “As of now, it is impossible to predict whether it will be possible to have 200, 1,000 or 5,000 people at events this summer. We do not know,” he adds. Norway has taken note from Germany’s €2.5billion pot, Austria’s €300m ‘protective umbrella’ and the Netherlands’ €300m fund. The Norwegian government is also in the process of compensating organisers and subcontractors that were financially impacted by the
Norwegian government’s ban on live events, which was extended into late 2020, causing the cancellation of the country’s biggest festivals. Live Nation Norway, All Things Live, and Tons of Rock will benefit from the latest round of compensation from the Norwegian government’s scheme for organisers and subcontractors in the cultural sector. The scheme, funded by the ministry of culture and distributed by Norway’s cultural council (Kulturradet), has so far paid out approximately NOK1.4bn to more than 2,000 applicants across various compensation schemes for 2020. For the latest tranche, which covers the period of May to August 2020, the cultural council is distributing more than NOK120m (€11.7m) to some of the biggest players in Norway’s festival sector. Elsewhere, the Flemish government has designated a total of €60m to help the region’s organisers kickstart preparations for this summer’s festival season. Flemish minister of economy, Hilde Crevits, has allocated €50m in repayable advances for the broader events sector “to get the engine going and offer insurance against the risk of organising an event in uncertain times,” she says. This is in addition to the €43m worth of repayable loans Crevits has already released, which went to 150 organisers including music festivals such as Sfinks, Laundry Day and Gent Jazz. For the new round of funding, the maximum amount an organiser can apply for has been raised from €800,000 to €1.8m, and larger organisations will be eligible to apply this time. All events that secure funding must comply with the measures applicable at the time they take place and, according to De Tijd , in most cases, the advance is non-refundable if the event is cancelled. The remaining €10m from the €60m pot – allocated by Flemish minister of tourism, Zuhal Demir – will subsidise Covid measures for small music festivals, such as the construction of rapid-test villages, additional entrances and exits, or the rental of a larger site. “Smaller events with a total cost of at least €250,000 can count on the support of up to €75,000, while larger players with budgets of at least €7.5m can count on support of up to €500,000,” says Demir. The grants application process is already open via government-funded Event Flanders. Organisers can combine both types of support.
“Smaller events with a total cost of at least €250,000 can count on the support of up to €75,000, while larger players with budgets of at least €7.5m can count on support of up to €500,000” Zuhal Demir | Flemish minister of tourism
