Downing Street signals it could back insurance scheme to enable music festivals to go ahead this summer
Music festivals could be saved by the Government this summer after Downing Street signalled it was considering calls for an insurance scheme to help the sector bounce back from covid-19.
The Prime Minister’s deputy spokesman on Friday told reporters that it “heard these calls” from industry leaders and MPs, adding that ministers were "committed to bringing the music sector back to full strength when it’s safe to do so."
The Treasury has previously dismissed calls, backed by more than 100 organisations and individuals from the performance sectors, to extend an underwriting scheme offered to other creative industries including film and television.
Similar cancellation schemes have been announced across Europe, in order to provide festival organisers with the financial safety net to begin making preparations, even though there is a chance they could be cancelled due to the pandemic.
Without it, festivals face incurring huge financial losses if events have to be cancelled due to restrictions remaining in place, or being reimposed.
However, the Chancellor is facing fresh pressure after Boris Johnson this week set out the roadmap out of lockdown, which will consider by June 21 the potential removing of all remaining covid-19 restrictions.
It has already prompted the organisers of the Reading and Leeds music festivals to confirm that they intend to go ahead this summer, while Ticketmaster, the online ticket sales company, has reported a 600 per cent rise in website activity this week.
But with large events such as music festivals not due to restart until after June 21 at the earliest, MPs have warned that many organisers will be unable to proceed with only a few weeks notice.
Glastonbury, which normally takes place in June, has already cancelled for the second year in a row.
better Julian Knight, the chairman of the Commons culture committee, warned that the sector needed “more than a roadmap”, adding: “We're calling on the Chancellor to review that decision now that the Government has a better sense of the road to recovery.”
Asked whether the Government would consider a scheme, the Prime Minister’s deputy spokesman said: "We’ve heard these calls for an insurance scheme. We are looking at a range of support options to help the sector get going.
"We continue to engage very closely with the sector to understand the challenges they are facing ahead."
