A third confinement that brings the British festival world to earth?
Its representatives called for help on Tuesday, explaining that many events are threatened with disappearance.
Before a parliamentary committee, festival organizers and representatives of the multibillion-pound industry stressed that it was crucial to have guarantees and a clear timetable from the government for events to be held. in 2021.
"If at Easter we still don't know whether it is possible to gather crowds for small or large festivals, then we will be in dire straits,"
said Steve Heap, general secretary of the Festival Organizers Association ( AFO).
According to him, nearly half of the organization's members need to know in the first three months of the year whether the 2021 program can hold.
Sacha Lord, co-founder of the Parlife festival in Manchester (north-west of England), for his part stressed that the organizers, the independents and the subcontractors would be "
swept away
" if the editions of this year could not take place.
“
If we can't play in 2021, I think the vast majority (of festivals) could disappear,
” he told UK MPs.
Observation shared by the UK Music collective.
Give an approximate deadline
Every year, thousands of visitors, British and foreign, flock to the summer festivals, which employ 85,000 people each season.
The Glastonbury Festival, for example, generates more than 100 million pounds (111 million euros) each year.
UK Music has urged authorities to give a rough deadline for the reopening of concert halls, as well as support measures.
It is in the "national interest", said Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, managing director of UK Music.
With more than 75,000 dead, the UK is one of the countries in Europe hardest hit by the pandemic.
Its music industry, which represents 5.8 billion pounds (6.4 billion euros), is hit hard by bans on large gatherings and successive confinements.
A possible return to normal is envisaged for the spring through vaccination, although the process currently only concerns the oldest and most vulnerable.
