Lord agrees , “ If we don ’ t get the insurance package , I am expecting many of the smaller festivals not to take place and I don ’ t blame them , they can ’ t take that financial risk . Insurance support is absolutely critical ; it is the most important thing for festivals .”
Meanwhile , Giddings is not holding his breath . He says , “ There ’ s no insurance against the pandemic , are the Government prepared to cover it ? I don ’ t think so . I think everybody this summer is taking a leap of faith .”
With festival operators not due to get confirmation that their events will be able take place without social distancing until June 14 at the earliest , operators are having to consider alternative scenarios .
Tee says the Black Deer festival site has sufficient room to be able to cope if some kind of distancing guidelines have to be adhered to : “ We ’ re in a beautiful estate with plenty of room so we can do any social distancing required but we are planning confidently for the full 20,000 capacity . That ’ s what we want to achieve in order to make our festival viable , but if suddenly there was a restriction that hit us we have enough space at the estate to be able to react to that .”
The Isle of Wight festival ’ s capacity will be reduced by 10 % this year , and Giddings says his team is taking all available steps to create a safe environment : “ We are going to have a really robust Covid plan in place – I don ’ t want to be responsible for a fourth Covid wave . We have experts dealing with Covid health and safety within the organisation .”
Despite its size , Jones is confident Pride In London will be able to take place in September but he says organisers will work closely with agencies and public bodies to adapt to requirements as they emerge : “ We work closely with the Greater London Authority , London Ambulance Service , Met Police , Westminster Council and the UK Government , and we ’ ll be led by their advice for the safety of the event .”
Supply chain There are considerable concerns across the events industry that the supply chain could be significantly weakened by the battering it has taken from the pandemic over the past year , and that with so many events having been moved to late summer , it may not be possible to meet demand .
Says Wade , “ The impact on the supply chain is yet to be fully understood . It all depends on if we get an announcement from the Government before the end of March regarding an insurance scheme because if that comes into play it shows the Government has confidence in events being able to go ahead this year . We can then go to suppliers and we can start moving and laying down financial commitments .”
Galbraith says his company ’ s festival , the 16,500-capacity Belladrum Tartan Heart in Inverness , which takes place 29-31 July , has already been impacted by the effect the changing festival landscape has had on suppliers : “ We ’ ve already got two suppliers that are telling us that they won ’ t be able to give us what we normally have simply because so many events are getting squashed into the end of the summer .”
Since it was announced London ’ s Mighty Hoopla would be moved to September , the event has sold out . Cofounder and director Ally Wolf says he is confident the festival will be able to take place without social distancing but quite what the admission process
“ We ’ ve always been the first show of the season , we are now going to be the last .”
John Giddings
will be remains to be seen .
He says , “ We have seen fantastic ticket sales for festivals and Mighty Hoopla is no exception . It ’ s really great to be able to plan events again but we are waiting to find out what the conditions will be on us operating , specifically in relation to testing and potential implementation of some kind of vaccination card .”
Much also depends on the results of the Government ’ s Events Research Programme , which will include a series of pilot events starting next month to ascertain the impact of using safety and testing measures on the transmission of Covid-19 at events .
Wade says that despite the uncertainty still surrounding the festival season , there is much to be optimistic about : “ The Event Research Programme is going to be really helpful . At the moment we are playing a bit of a waiting game but when we see the results come back we will be able to understand exactly what events can go ahead and in what capacity . It is still a tricky time for us , but it definitely feels like we have much more to work with than we have had for a very long time .”
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