DEAR POLITICIANS, WE NEED A STRAIGHT MESSAGE NOW
PUBLISHED FRIDAY 23.4.2021
Our belief in being able to conduct a Roskilde Festival this summer is crumbling. We need a straight answer from the authorities now.
Spring is in the air, corona has not disappeared, and it isn’t until now that cultural life is slowly about to reopen.
We owe the thousands of committed people around us a straight answer about this summer's festival.
Volunteers, ticket holders, artists, suppliers ask us if we really believe in it ourselves. Whether we should or are permitted to gather 130,000 festival fans in late June?
It is solely the authorities who decide whether it is safe to conduct a Roskilde Festival this year. We are still waiting for a clarification on this. So we can't answer these questions.
The Ministry of Culture Denmark has asked a group of experts to gather and come up with recommendations. The group has just handed over its recommendations to the authorities.
Based on the recommendations, we find it very difficult to believe that it is realistic to conduct festivals in Denmark before the end of the summer.
We see no other conclusion than that there will still be restrictions. Restrictions which mean that it is not possible to conduct a Roskilde Festival. It's so unbearable. But that's where we've ended up.
We share our concerns with the other festival organisers in the country.
Together with our industry association Dansk Live, we strongly appeal to the authorities for a straight message concerning the major events.
We've all waited long enough. We can't wait any longer.
We – and all of you who are involved in the Danish festival life – need some certainty now.
Read the festivals' statement for the authorities (only in Danish)
