GESAC has once again united with our live sector partners to issue a statement addressed to European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas and Commissioner Mariya Gabriel.

Creators and the live sector welcome EU Guidelines on reopening of cultural events

“Dear Vice-President,

Dear Commissioner,

Our group of organisations representing the live sector and creators community warmly welcomes the “EU guidelines for the safe resumption of activities in the cultural and creative sectors – COVID-19” issued by the European Commission, which strikes the right balance between proposals to foster safe reopening and recommendations to boost sustainable recovery of cultural events.

As underlined in the Communication, there have been very few cases of transmissions of the COVID-19 virus at cultural events. Indeed, cultural establishments offer safe environments, as demonstrated by a number of test events organised in several countries. Something the Commission also noted in its recommendations as evidence that live events can be safely held while taking into account the necessary sanitary measures and without causing a risk to public health.

The promising results of recent additional test events, held despite growing fear over variants, confirm that the reopening of cultural events can be sustained in safety.[1] We invite the Member States to take these findings into careful consideration when setting their required national reopening strategies and trust that the Commission can play a key role in coordinating and ensuring the implementation of such highly needed national plans at EU level.”

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