Sweden and Denmark continue with compensation for live events
Sweden and Denmark will continue to compensate for live events affected by Covid-19
The governments of two Scandinavian countries, Sweden, and Denmark will continue to allow financial compensation to organizers and entities for those who have had live events damaged by the Covid-19 pandemic. In February 2021, Denmark’s Minister of Culture, Joy Mogensen, proposed an extension of the compensation introduced in 2020 to provide assistance to event organizers during the summer. In the spring of this year, the Swedish government also went ahead with a proposal for its own compensation fund for cancellation of events for events that would take place from July to December 2021.
Now, due to current restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson announced at a press conference that the financial support will be extended to March 2022, with a promise to introduce additional cancellation compensation in the future if needed. Event compensation amounts to 70% of the costs that are “directly necessary” for the event, up to a maximum of SEK 17.5 million (EUR 1.7 million) or USD 1.9 million. The support applies to events that would have taken place between June 2021 and March 2022. In Denmark, the compensation has a slightly more limited limitation for now. The Dutch government will introduce a new plan to cover canceled premises, launches or significantly changed indoor events. At present, however, only events that had a planned audience of between 51 and 349 standing participants will be given financial support. Other governments like those of UK has implemented a contingency plan to support the live events sector in its country.
Sweden and Denmark are no strangers to events that lead to Electronic Dance Music or EDM artists. DJs like Avicii, Alesso, Axwell, Eric Prydz and many others all come from Sweden. Then there is Denmark Roskilde Festival, one of Europe’s largest festivals that has boasted an ever-growing list of EDM main artists for several years.
Image credit: Summerburst Gothenburg 2019