The Bavarian state government has relaxed the corona rules for cultural events.
The opinions of those affected in Nuremberg are mixed.
Nuremberg – On January 25th, the Bavarian state government relaxed the corona-related restrictions on cultural events.
At events with fewer than 1000 spectators, 50 percent of the seats may now be occupied.
The mask requirement still applies, but a distance of 1.50 meters no longer has to be maintained.
For events with 1,000 to 10,000 spectators, an occupancy rate of 25 percent is permitted.
For some artists, this is a real relief.
Others are less happy with the decisions.
These Corona rules now apply in Bavaria.*
Nuremberg: disillusionment at the museums
The disillusionment is probably the greatest in the museums.
They only get some of the expanded utilization capabilities when they run events.
That would be, for example, exhibition openings or seminars.
Thomas Eser, Director of the Museums of the City of Nuremberg*, is disappointed.
The 2G rule still applies in the museum café, but 2G plus applies to the exhibition rooms, he explains to
Nordbayern.de
.
That is difficult to understand.
"The museums are falling behind once again," he complains.
"We had hoped that the 2G plus rule for museums would fall.
Because the obligation to be boosted or to carry a test costs us a lot of visitors.
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Nuremberg: Symphoniker remain optimistic
The situation is similar with the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra.
Her boss, Lucius Hemmer, therefore already has radical suggestions ready: "If we continue to make every restaurant visit better, the only thing left for us to do is to serve Schäuferle during the concerts!" In principle, however, the symphonic orchestra would welcome the decision, he emphasizes
Nordbayern.de
.
It was a step that was long overdue and that the audience and organizers had worked hard for: "More people in the concert means more joy in being able to experience and enjoy music together." would have to occur.
Hemmer puts the financial aspect at the back: "After the many months of hardship, every opening is an improvement." He is aware that the easing will not automatically ensure full halls.
"The audience first has to regain confidence that there is something unreservedly great about being able to look forward to going to a concert," he believes.
The health of musicians and audience is of course still the priority.
Nuremberg: Good conditions in the small cinema
Matthias Damm from the Nürnberger Filmkunsttheater Casablanca is relieved: "It's nice that we can now occupy half of the seats again and the one and a half meter distance rule is no longer applicable".
His cinema is one of the smaller ones.
It has three halls - with 90, 44 and 26 seats.
The old 25 percent mark was an “enormous restriction”.
Now spectators can sit in every row again.
Two seats remain free between the individual groups of visitors.
At the moment, Damm does not wish for fully occupied cinemas.
Then many visitors would no longer come, he fears.
His cinema is financed by an association - so the 2G Plus rule hardly bothers him.
"Big cinemas with more young audiences certainly see it differently," says Damm.
However, his viewers are mostly boosted.
Almost nobody has a negative corona test* with them.
Nuremberg: bad mood at the concert office in Franconia
At the Concertbüro Franken (CBF), the mood is significantly worse. It is the largest organizer of rock and pop concerts in the Nuremberg* region. The changes to the Corona rules do not help, explains CBF boss Axel Ballreich. “We currently have no program in the club area. Almost all international acts have postponed or canceled their tours," he said when asked by
Nordbayern.de
. Dance events are still out of the question. To do this, the distance rules would have to be abolished: "We need four weeks' lead time for parties, and it is questionable whether that will work with a mask."
Problems also remain in the hall area.
Among the concerts for the Nuremberg Arena that have not yet been canceled are some for which 75 percent of all tickets have already been sold.
Of course it's bad if only 50 percent of the seats can now be filled.
The summer festivals give hope, says Ballreich: "People believe in it, it works".
Among other things, the world-famous Rock-im-Park-Festival* takes place in the heart of the city in summer.
"We're counting on that.
We are skeptical about everything before that, and the same applies to autumn 2022.”
Nuremberg: relief at the children's theater
At Theater Mummpitz, the first notification from the Bavarian state government about the changes initially caused confusion. It did not say that distances would no longer have to be maintained in the future. Children's theaters usually do not have large halls. For them, an increase in spectator capacity would have been pointless without the removal of the distance rules. Theater boss Andrea Maria Erl is therefore relieved.
The Panoptikum children's theater festival starts on February 8, for which Erl can now sell tickets with a clear conscience.
"We were all waiting for the decision," she explains to
Nordbayern.de
.
There are guests who would travel to the festival from all over Germany.
For them, the journey is only worthwhile if they can attend several performances.
Of course, there will still be a loss in revenue.
The fact that the viewers have to prove a test or a booster vaccination is not a big hurdle: "Both at the public and at the school performances, the visitors are very cooperative, everyone has the necessary papers with them."
*Merkur.de/bayern is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
List of rubrics: © Daniel Karmann/dpa