UK music festivals including Glastonbury may not happen in 2021. Unless their insurance is underwritten, MPS warns that they can’t return.
Conservative chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Julian Knight, spoke in the House of Commons. He said: “The UK is the leader in the world in terms of music and arts festivals. The sector is worth £12 billion and supports many thousands of highly-skilled jobs as well as the financial lifeblood of the nation’s musicians.
“However, there will be no festival season next year unless insurance is underwritten in case of Covid disruption.”
Minister of State at the Department for Digital, Media, Culture, and Sport, Caroline Dinenage, spoke with MPS to see how reinsurance is possible. However, due to a minimum time of six months, events like Glastonbury must have reinsurance done now.
“Festivals are such a vibrant and integral part of our creative community and our economy, and I am well aware that many will take decisions very soon about whether they can go ahead next year, so this is a very urgent situation,” Dinenage said. “There is a sub-group of my entertainment and events working group looking very specifically about how we can get festivals reopened and in the last few weeks I have met with representatives from festivals in Edinburgh and only yesterday from festivals on the Isle of Wight.”
Not All Hope Is Lost
According to Dinenage, MPS will look at the situation carefully. They seek for the industry to “build an evidence base that absolutely demonstrates insurance coverage.”
Festival organizers are hopeful that the new year will bring the official return of music events. Recently, UK event We Out Here Festival announced its lineup for the 2021 edition. Glasgow’s Playground Festival also announced a series of artists that will perform at next year’s show.
H/T: DJ Mag