DGTL Festival was set to place in Amsterdam two weeks ago but got canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak. However, it is miraculously recouping some of its $2.3 million investment from insurance.
Tom Veldhuis, co-founder of Apenkooi Event and DGTL shared the story in an interview with the New York Times. He explained how lucky the event is for recovering its investment. However, it was not a calculated move, but a result of an employee “accidentally” selecting pandemic coverage while filling out the insurance form.
When we renewed our insurance policies, one of my employees sort of accidentally ticked the ‘pandemic’ box on the insurance form
Tom Veldhuis
In reality, the recovered month represents only 70% of the total investment but remains much better than a 0% deal.
We’re getting roughly 70 percent of our $2.3 million investment back. Otherwise, it would have been quite a blow
Tom Veldhuis
Who would have thought a few months ago that buying pandemic insurance would become this life-changing.
Moreover, DGTL decided to make the festival 100% Digital this year, bringing 28 acts into the comforts of your home, and the live stream will be available on the festival’s official site.
Earlier this week, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte announced that all festivals will be canceled until at least September 1. This decision follows many others by European countries -such as France, Spain, and Belgium- to ban cultural events and mass gatherings.