Live events to be covered by govt-backed COVID insurance scheme – as Labour brands move ‘bare minimum’
Live events will be covered by a £750m insurance scheme backed by the government in a bid to stop cancellations over COVID-19.
Industry figures have long called for the government to step in after finding that insurers would not cover them for losses caused by the pandemic.
Many organisers campaigned for a scheme guaranteed by the state that would allow them to plan events without risking financial ruin.
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The government announced it has partnered with Lloyd’s to deliver a new Live Events Reinsurance Scheme, which will be available from next month and run until the end of September 2022.
Insurers will receive a guarantee from the government which will allow them to offer products to cover organisers if state restrictions shut events down.
Labour’s shadow culture secretary Jo Stevens criticised the scheme, saying it was the “bare minimum”.
She said the scheme was limited to covering a lockdown and would not apply to scenarios like the reintroduction of social distancing or artists and crews having to self-isolate.
“Yet again the government has dithered, delayed and come up with a solution that doesn’t address the problem,” she said.
“Under this scheme, the government essentially takes no risk and the live events sector carries it all.”
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The scheme will be available for the live events sector, which the Treasury said was worth more than £70bn to the economy each year and supports more than 700,000 jobs.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the scheme will allow “everything from live music in Margate to business events in Birmingham” to go ahead, providing “a boost to the economy and protecting livelihoods”.
He said: “The events sector supports hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country, and I know organisers are raring to go now that restrictions have been lifted.
“But the lack of the right kind of insurance is proving a problem, so as the economy reopens I want to do everything I can to help events providers and small businesses plan with confidence right through to next year.”
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden added: “Our events industries are not just vital for the economy and jobs; they put Britain on the map and, thanks to this extra support, will get people back to the experiences that make life worth living.”
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Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, chief executive of music industry body UK Music, said the scheme is “incredibly welcome news” for millions of music fans, performers, and those working in the sector.
He said: “The inability to obtain insurance has already caused many cancellations this summer – these have been devastating for the entire music industry and there were fears that without action we would have seen major cancellations continuing well into next year too.”
Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee chairman Julian Knight welcomed the move, saying: “Though it is a shame that it has come too late for some this summer, this scheme will provide the confidence the sector needs to plan and invest in future events.”
Entertainment
Creatives having to be even more creative as National Theatre overhauls how it stages productions
The National Theatre is overhauling how it stages productions – as its ambitious climate targets mean creatives are having to be even more creative.
After setting itself the goal of achieving net zero as an organisation by 2030, off-stage quietly radical changes are under way.
Pic: Reed Watts
Sky News was invited to see how the theatre, based in Southbank, central London, has gone about overhauling its approach to staging productions, meeting with some of those who’ve worked on its adaptation of the much-loved children’s classic Ballet Shoes.
While critics have been full of praise for the visual spectacle on-stage, how the whole look was created required a fundamental shift in approach.
“All of the team have had to be on board with reinventing, recutting and reimagining items rather than just making them from scratch,” costume designer Samuel Wyer said.
A new resource they had to work with was the National Theatre Green Store in Bermondsey, southeast London.
The warehouse has more than 131,000 items of costume and almost 22,000 props now housed under one roof so that designers can repurpose items from previous productions to try to cut their carbon footprint.
It’s a surprisingly satisfying challenge.
Mr Wyer said they were able to “dip and cut clothes… which meant I was finding things even outside my imagination that were more perfect than I could have drawn on a piece of paper”.
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Trying to lead by example, the theatre hopes to demonstrate how the industry needn’t take a fast fashion approach to making sets, props and costumes from scratch.
“I think if it’s demonstrated that we can do things in this way that helps all of us imagine a world where we can use what we’ve got rather than new, new, new, because we need that balance,” Mr Wyer said.
“Theatre is where we come to imagine who we could be.”
Pic: Reed Watts
‘Every piece has its own little quirks’
Last year, the National set itself targets of 50% of the materials used in its productions having had a previous life, and 65% being repurposed at the end of each production.
For set designer Frankie Bradshaw, hitting those targets has meant working with a lot more repurposed furniture.
“Lots of second-hand cabinets, bookshelves,” she said. “Ordinarily [carpenters] would have been used to building from scratch following a drawing and this has been quite different.
“Every piece has its own little quirks, and they’ve had to adapt their processes to fit that way of working.”
While it’s by no means straightforward, the process is proving rewarding.
“It requires everyone to be a little bit more flexible, a little more patient, but it does mean you can end up with a product you’re a lot more proud of,” Ms Bradshaw added.
Ballet Shoes runs at the National Theatre until Saturday 22 February.
Neil Young has been confirmed as a headliner at this year’s Glastonbury – despite saying he was dropping out due to the BBC’s involvement in the festival.
The 79-year-old Canadian musician wrote on his website earlier this week that both he and his band, The Chrome Hearts, were pulling out because the BBC’s involvement was a “corporate turn-off”.
He has now said in a statement that this decision was down to “an error in the information I received”.
Emily Eavis, the organiser of the Glastonbury Festival, posted on Instagram on Friday: “Neil Young is an artist who’s very close to our hearts at Glastonbury.
“He does things his own way and that’s why we love him.
“We can’t wait to welcome him back here to headline the Pyramid in June.”
Glastonbury, which takes place at Worthy Farm in Somerset in the summer, has worked closely with the BBC – its exclusive broadcast partner – since 1997.
Posting on Neil Young Archives, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer wrote in his initial statement: “The Chrome Hearts and I were looking forward to playing Glastonbury, one of my all-time favourite outdoor gigs.
“We were told that BBC was now a partner in Glastonbury and wanted us to do a lot of things in a way we were not interested in.
“It seems Glastonbury is now under corporate control and is not the way I remember it being.”
Young performing at Glastonbury in 2009. Pic: AP
Young, who headlined the festival’s Pyramid stage in 2009, added: “We will not be playing Glastonbury on this tour because it is a corporate turn-off, and not for me like it used to be.
“Hope to see you at one of the other venues on the tour.”
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In an updated statement, he wrote: “Due to an error in the information received, I had decided to not play the Glastonbury festival, which I always have loved.
“Happily, the festival is now back on our itinerary and we look forward to playing! Hope to see you there!”
Young, who is married to US actress Daryl Hannah, was booked to play Glastonbury in 1997 but pulled out after cutting his left index finger while making a ham sandwich.
Glastonbury, one of the UK’s largest music festivals, is set to take place between 25 and 29 June, with Sir Rod Stewart booked for the Sunday teatime legend slot.
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