PSA’s Andy Lenthall retraces the so-called roadmap for the return of live events

A ROADMAP TO NOWHERE

Following the success of the #LetTheMusicPlay campaign, PSA’s Andy Lenthall implores the UK Government to respond to the urgent situation the live events industry finds itself in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I’m having a party, here’s a map, see you there. That’s what people seemed to see when Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden’s cultural return roadmap solution dropped at midnight recently with no fixed date. He must have been quite pleased because we were already at stage two out of five; I get the same feeling when I start my to do list with ‘write to do list’; task one complete, time for a well-deserved brew. Cue the Music Venues Trust’s stunningly simple, cuttingly on-point suggestion which was something along the lines of supporting the sector until we’re allowed to get back in full then get out of the way, let us do what we’re good at and reap the cultural and economic advantages.

OK, let’s move to current actions. Sure, the road map might have been a shoddy attempt at appeasement, not so good after his dream dinner party list of people he’s met once became a Cultural Renewal Task Force, but work has continued apace to develop guidance on how to actually return to live events. By the time we get to read this, the ‘Performing Arts’ guidance may have been given the green light so we can see just what will be required to actually get a performance on a stage. How that segues neatly into outdoor event or standing/seated venue guidance will be fun to watch.

BRING THE NOISE What isn’t fun to watch is the responses rolling in to impact assessments; when you see a supply chain that has, in the majority, four months of liquidity left and a workforce that is reliant on grant aid that will perhaps end long before a return to work. It’s the same across the whole events sector.

One thing we all know by now is that live events will be the last sector that is fully allowed back to work. We say fully because, within our sector, the different strands will be back to fighting weight at different times. Every weekend is another outdoor show that won’t happen until next year, every travel restriction is an overseas artist that won’t be hopping on an aeroplane and every company that doesn’t want to be seen to be threatening another wave of infections is a cancelled corporate event. We’re in the business of gathering people together. At the time of writing, live music is about to launch a coordinated, collaborative campaign that

will once again supply evidence from member research that will inform direct briefings with MPs along with a planned program of intensive lobbying and press activity. By now, an open letter will have been delivered to the Culture Secretary, signed by artists, crew and suppliers – over 3,500 of you in the end. It’s the start of the #LetTheMusicPlay campaign, not just a hashtag and profile picture frame, it’s and industry led, artist supported, public and Parliament facing, coordinated campaign built around three key requests:

1. A clear conditional timeline for reopening venues without social distancing. 2. An immediate comprehensive business and employment support package* and access to finance. 3. Full VAT exemption on ticket sales.

To expand, the business and employment support package should include a Government-backed insurance scheme to allow shows to go ahead; an extension of the furlough scheme and help for the self-employed and sole traders to prevent mass redundancies; rent breaks for venues to allow them to reopen; an extension of business rate relief to the entire live music supply chain to protect our ecosystem, large single event premises license fees for festivals to be rolled over to 2021 and financial support for lost box office income to support reopening and recovery, which would also support performers, songwriters, composers and their representatives.

Wi th £1.7bn of retail, leisure and hospitality grant funds still sitting in local authority coffers and 50% of supply chain companies being turned down for grant aid and rates relief, perhaps there’s a source that can get the ball rolling now the original target market is reopening.

But it really is a balancing act; the need to get back to work is tempered by market confidence. When will audiences be confident enough to return? Research suggests that outdoors is where people feel more confident, but their mode of transport to any site would be less likely to be public transport. Out of town rather than city centre then? Different audience types pose different levels of risk requiring adjustments in management;

think rock festival versus family oriented classical event. The entertainment sector of live events will need to balance the need for a return with the need for a market that will sustain that return.

Business events may well have an extra consideration, namely the appetite for businesses to be associated with gathering delegates together. There is, perhaps, a difference between buying a ticket for entertainment and feeling obliged to attend a conference for work reasons. In all eventualities, the final assessment on whether any event goes ahead will be down to the market. Outdoors, indoors, young, old, vulnerable, business, leisure, local, national, international; knowing when ‘events’ will perhaps be allowed, having that dated road map will only be part of the picture. A date that triggers permission will not trigger an instant return to all manner of events, the powers that be are being versed in the planning involved, that you can’t simply throw open the doors of an arena and have Taylor Swift on stage. Simply put, people are being careful what they ask for.

Not everyone is desperate to get back to work either, they realise that the risks posed by gathering people together mean that the risk of being blamed for a rise in infection rates is greater. People are poised to blame protests or packed beaches for the spike they’re expecting, others are poised to question why we can’t put on outdoor shows when the spike doesn’t materialise.

Slowly, carefully, step by step; recognised, funded and supported for a financially sustainable return to activity.

Sustainable, perhaps not just financial, there have been a good few conversations about the nature of return, about the opportunities that we have to reset and consider our impacts on the environment and the health of those involved in live production. Industry sustainability group, Julie’s Bicycle has already written to the Culture Secretary, asking for a green and just cultural recovery to be prioritised; in a call with members of the Association of Festival Organisers, their members were encouraged to take this extra time to create sustainability plans for their events, perhaps this will be one of the positives that we can develop from a time of crisis. TPi www.psa.org.uk