Some fans were already ready on Monday in the Johan Cruijff Arena for the concert of The Rolling Stones. Frontman Mick Jagger only discovered in the stadium that he had corona; the concert was canceled last minute.
The advice is still: if you are infected, stay at home until you no longer have any complaints. This recently led to several cancellations in the culture sector: The Murder of Halit Yozgat at the Holland Festival for example, the Rigoletto by Camerata de’ Bardi in Nijmegen and two performances at the theater festival Oerol.
Even before the festival week on Terschelling started, Oerol was told that an act could not take place because of corona. “I immediately held my breath,” says Siart Smit, general manager at Oerol. Measures were immediately taken within the organization: only the people in the office who really have to be there, sitting alone in the car and disinfection pumps everywhere. Smit: “Later in the week, a second act also appeared to be struggling with infections within the company. Fortunately, it has remained that way.”
To ensure
Now that corona seems to be back, is it time for measures again? “Tivoli has not yet had any cancellations due to a corona infection, but this week we have put our corona team ready if we have to take measures again,” says Jeroen Bartelse, general manager of TivoliVredenburg.
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According to him, this kind of cancellation is almost impossible to insure, and guarantee schemes only apply if government measures make performances impossible. When a concert hall cannot let a performance take place due to a corona case, the organization must resolve this itself. “Usually we try to reschedule the concert, as was the case for corona.”
If performances could not take place due to government measures, the organization was reimbursed part of the damage. That has now become one guarantee scheme (there were two) that will run until September.
Bente Bollmann, marketing manager of Lowlands and Down the Rabbit Hole “does not want to speculate about the possible consequences of a new corona wave”. The two festivals have not yet received cancellations related to corona.
According to Berend Schans, director of the Dutch Poppodia and Festivals Association (VNPF), the cancellations due to corona have not been too bad so far: “A few times a performance is cancelled. But I so hope this blows over.” Jacob van der Vlugt, press and PR manager at Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, agrees: “We had no cancellations at all last week. Since the cultural sector has reopened, we have had to reschedule a performance twice.”
The Stones concert has also been moved and will take place within a month, on July 7th.
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