“There’s a precedent already in law and policy, and the Treasury would have a maximum liability of £1.5 billion. It’s such a simple thing and it’s not a huge amount, but it would make all the difference. If they can support TV and film production with insurance, why not the rest of the sector?”
Otherwise, fears Nelson, “if we were to plan a similar LIFT event to last year and have to cancel, that would either place a terrible burden on all the freelancers who we’d employed and now wouldn’t be paid, or we’d have to cut staff, maybe even close the business.”
Neither can festivals stay frozen indefinitely. “You need that income to offset other projects or other years. And confidence ebbs away in the meantime.”
LIFT is a charity, and support from the Arts Council has “been incredible.” They’ve also received around £72,000 from the Culture Recovery Fund, which has “allowed us unfreeze hiring for three positions, commission works for 2021, and provided essential support.” Nelson plans to apply for the second round of funding, too, although that’s expected to be fiercely competitive.
The problem, he says, is “stopping everything in the cultural sector at once. It’s hard to start again unless you’ve got loads of reserves – and most of those have been depleted already over the past year. Ideally, we should be looking to forward the Recovery Fund investment with other initiatives and policies – like Government insurance-backed events being remounted.”
Mounting a festival is a major undertaking. LIFT is “medium-sized”, but still has an operating budget over two years of around “£2 million, with the festival reaching something like 30,000 people.” But, says Nelson, think of the Edinburgh Fringe, Brighton Festival or Glastonbury – “that’s a city worth of people getting employed and gathering together.”
It’s a boon to the Treasury too. “The festival industry in 2019 was worth £1.76 billion in gross receipts.” Plus, it stimulates the local economy: “hospitality, travel, getting tourists back.”
Nelson isn’t relying on the vaccine rollout timetable, but is instead thinking of festivals with social distancing for this year, “and aiming for more like the good old days in summer 2022.” He hasn’t yet set an exact date for LIFT’s return.
However, with its focus on international perspectives, LIFT faces another major hurdle: travel. “In order to book talent, sites and transport, everything needs extra planning – and we’re now looking at uncertainty and rigmarole around Brexit rules, and also Covid travel restrictions.
“With Brexit, we need clarity on freedom of movement for artists entering the UK and British artists entering Europe, and whether they need visas. And then the UK travel restrictions during the pandemic have been different to Europe, so that has an impact too.
“In previous years, we would partner with festivals in Germany or Belgium, so if an artist was crossing an ocean, we’d split the costs of their flight, and having several events to perform at would make it worth the artist’s time. We’d usually rent equipment from Europe too. All of this has been in place for so long. It’s a lot to unravel.”
On the positive side, Nelson has been “so struck by the ingenuity and inventiveness of the UK cultural sector. Given this incredible set of parameters, and with our livelihood taken away, people have created socially distanced events, hybrid digital-theatre shows, and kept giving audiences something to see, and putting people to work.
“So, this insurance scheme from the Government could be a very straightforward way to underwrite that experimentation and innovation, demonstrating the absolute faith that the sector will find a way to bring culture to audiences who deserve it.
“Even if festivals this summer are one-third the amplitude of a normal year, it will mean so much to people. By flicking a few levers, the Government can open up a whole new wave of cultural and economic recovery.”
