Creative Sector Taskforce: 'Bite through precisely where the risks are highest!'

'If you introduce a lockdown, do it at places where many infections take place. In fact, due to careful compliance with the Corona Entrance Ticket (CTB) in theatres, concert halls, museums and cinemas, there are few infections there. So targeting that measure precisely at the cultural sector is going to make little difference. Bite through precisely where the risks are highest.'

Jeroen Bartelse of the Cultural and Creative Sector Taskforce is clear about it. If the plans for a short lockdown of the cultural sector in particular go ahead, as now seems to be proposed by the Outbreak Management Team, you will hit exactly the most vulnerable sector, which is also the one that performs best in countering infections. Last night, Wednesday 10 November, the Task Force was already sounding the alarm, only to find the following morning that they have already been overtaken by the facts.

Child of the account

The OMT is in favour of a brief two-week lockdown to deal with the virus as definitively as possible, which is rampant again now that people are not adhering to measures enough, especially in the hospitality, work and public transport sectors. So, now that the influx of vulnerable people in ICUs seems unstoppable, emergency measures are needed, but it seems that the very sectors where the number of infections was well controlled will become the child of the bill.

The sector is reacting angrily, and so was the tone of yesterday's press release: 'The cultural and creative sector has cooperated in the implementation and compliance of the CTB proof from the testing phase. Basic measures have been fully and thoroughly observed since the outbreak of the pandemic, air ventilation has been given full attention and protocols are closely followed. As a result, activities within the cultural and creative sector have largely prevented the spread of the virus. New restrictions are unnecessary within the sector and, once again, cause programmatic and financial despair among artists, performers, venues, museums, producers, monuments and festivals.'

Despair

The desperation mentioned by the Task Force will lead to even more drop-outs of staff and especially self-employed workers: after all, they can no longer make ends meet and the uncertainty about the future will lead to them leaving. The cultural sector will become a sector you no longer want to be trained for. Thus, the current, possibly disproportionate response to the pandemic will continue for many years to come: fewer people, less audience, and therefore ultimately less quality.

The outgoing cabinet will announce on Friday (12 November) what it will do with the OMT's advice.