What will become of festivals?

Due to the Covid-19 that stroked the whole world in January 2020, the event industry has been suffering. To avoid the pandemic of spreading, all events have been cancelled. Included live music and Festivals. Many survived 2020 due to the financial help of the government and people who supported their favorite festivals. Some of them asked to the ticket owners if they preferred to be reimbursed a part of the total price or kept for next year. This is why many festivals won’t survive 2021… According to Aurélien Djakouane, researcher at the CNRS, a laboratory for studies on live performance, the cost of canceling festivals in 2020 is between 1.75 and 3.8 billion euros. This also includes direct and indirect losses, such as tourism, catering, transport, etc. Indeed, many countries count on festivals for revenues as it also promotes the beauty of the country.

Jérôme Tréhorel, general manager of the Breton festival said “since March, we have been in a situation of great distress and uncertainty. We have aids, but nothing is specific”. Same fear for Jérôme Benet, director of Archéo jazz, “we are in the dark, we have just postponed the first programming meeting. If at the start of next year, we have no prospect, we stop. We are there.”

Some other festivals or more optimistic and have a solution to ensure the 2021 season goes ahead “as normal” despite the Covid-19 crisis. It includes the use of thermo scanners and interactive wristband that vibrates when a person is not respecting social distancing. More than that, festivals, entertainment and sporting events want to run their events that involve many steps. First of all, the customer who want to book and event needs to get a test and download it in the “NHS” trace app. Once the test registered with the app, it allows the customer to continue his booking. If the test is negative, the app notifies the customer that they are Covid-19 free and it becomes a vestural permission to attends the event. The customer then needs to show the tickets and their app at the entry, which allows them to enter the event.

However, this idea still needs to be accepted from government and scientists, as social distancing is clearly not respected at festivals.

Plus, what doesn’t make sense in this idea is that what proves that you don’t have it when you arrive at the festival. Between the time you sent the negative test to the app and the moment you arrive at the festivals; you can probably have it. But at the same time, it’s good that festival try to find some solutions because if 2021 or even 2022 is still the same situation, festivals won’t be economically viable. Some people might say that it’s not the moment to think about this while people are between life and death, but other are healthy and just want one thing: to have fun and think of something else. “This summer has shown, with its illegal rave parties, the importance of coming together around festive culture”, said Emmanuel Négrier, also a researcher at the CNRS.

But 2021 is still a long way off, scientists are doing their best they can to search for a Covid-19 vaccine and better treatments. Who knows, until then, people may have an immune system, and summer 2021 might be the summer you were waiting for! Let’s stay optimistic!