No UK Government support for Music Festivals may reflect double standards

THE cancelation of this year’s Glastonbury Festival has raised the matter of why the UK Government has introduced Covid-19 indemnity for films but not festivals.

Back in July, the £500 million Film and TV Production Restart Scheme was introduced to help film and TV shows struggling to get insurance for Covid related risks to get back into production.

Music festivals however are generally unable to obtain cancellation insurance for music events and the culture secretary Oliver Dowden shows little inclination to support those who want to see a similar scheme for music.

The Liberal Party has written to the Government to champion the cause of special cancellation insurance and already Austria and Germany have introduced such support for their event industries.

Early in 2020, the Gibraltar Government cancelled the Gibraltar Calling Festival stating “The Cabinet, on the advice received, has decided that there cannot be a Gibraltar Music Festival in 2020.

“The reason for taking the decision at this early stage is because public funds would need to be expended now, in advance, on signature of contracts and no insurance is available at reasonable cost to cover the potential loss of fees paid if the concert has to be cancelled in September.”

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