Joy Mogensen, Denmark’s minister for culture will propose the parliamentary parties a new and more inclusive compensation scheme for festival organisers. March is coming and there is still a lot of uncertainty about what the 2021 summer festivals season will be. Each country is at different stages of the pandemic, which is reflected in different phases of reopening and different levels of optimism about the future. But there is something common to all policies: not to leave the entertainment industry helpless again.
Taking the example of the measures that are being studied and implemented in other countries like Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Belgium, Mogensen is fighting for better measures for festival promoters. The plan that the minister will propose is similar to the one implemented by the Danish government last summer, but this time it will be more comprehensive and approved in the EU. Last year’s compensation scheme was aimed at organisers of events with more than 1,000 participants or 500 participants in case the target audience were risk groups, and only at events scheduled from March to June. These measures left the organisers of summer festivals out, as well as subcontractors. This time, the intention is to include entities that organise summer festivals, so that they can receive support in case events are cancelled due to the epidemiological situation.
Joy Mogensen had mentioned that a verdict on whether the summer season could take place and in what capacity would be announced on 1 March, but the minister has now confirmed that it will not be possible to advance that information by that date:
‘We will start the technical briefing of the culture rapporteurs this afternoon [25 February]. Then we will continue to have a dialogue with the European Commission, so that we can reach our goals quickly.’
It is also worth mentioning that last week, outdoor cultural events with a maximum capacity of 25 people were allowed in Denmark under the approval of health experts who have already recommended full reopening supported by testing and health passports. These coronavirus passports had already been mentioned by Morten Bødskov, Denmark’s acting minister of finance, as a solution for international travel and have also been talked about in the news all over the world as a possible solution for the return of globalisation.
Some of the Danish festivals are Northside Festival Denmark, Copenhell, Tinderbox, Roskilde Festival and Smukfest.
Image Credit: Roskilde Festival (via Facebook)
