The head of the We Make Events Cymru campaign has warned that the path to reopening festivals and large scale events remains uncertain.
Sarah Hemsley-Cole’s comments follow the announcement yesterday that The Green Man Festival plan to go ahead with the August 2021 event.
The news has been met with glee by Welsh music fans keen to get back to life as normal, but when asked how she felt about the announcement Hemsley-Cole sounded a note of caution.
”I think there is still a journey to take,” she said.
“We are, with the Welsh Government, looking at some test events so we can apply the rigour and systems we need to have in place to facilitate events over the summer.
“It’s brilliantly positive news but we need caution to see how it can pan out in reality.”
Hemsley-Cole says the industry is working hard to get these events back on track.
”There is a huge amount of planning that goes into a festival,” she said as part of a Facebook Live discussion on CJS News.
“We are building small villages every time we have a festival. As an industry, there has been an amazing amount of dialogue, hard work and some real innovation in terms of what’s practical.
“Ultimately, when people come together in large numbers they want to be in big crowds.
“They want to be in mosh pits, jumping around and getting off their head on booze. That’s part of the experience.
“There are challenges about how we facilitate that in a post-Covid world but we are never going to give up.
“We will never stop trying to get that to happen.”
The Welsh Government is yet to announce its route of out lockdown. The next review will come on the week beginning the 8th of March.
For the full conversation about the Arts and Events industry pre, during and post-Covid watch our Facebook Live in full at the link below.
https://www.facebook.com/BroadcastCJS/videos/866071390842042