The cultural industry in Bergen is despairing. On Tuesday, the municipality took drastic steps after the region went in red as a result of increasing corona infection. For the next ten days, the audience limit of 200 people must now be limited to 50.
Now veteran actor and Bergen native Helge Jordal throws himself at the criticism of the city’s corona measures.
– It’s absurd
– Shall we suffer again? he says to Dagbladet.
14 cultural workers – led by actor Bjarte Hjelmeland, have now opposed the measures and believe that the cultural industry will be subjected to unnecessary restrictions.
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– Hysterical
– It is perceived as absurd that we have to limit the audience to 50 people for ten days. To date, no infection has been detected at cultural events in Bergen, Hjelmeland claims to Dagbladet.
Jordal believes the new measures are more than strict.
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– It may seem a little hysterical. There are no examples of infection in theater and cinema. We have been good, at the same time as it is us in the cultural industry who have suffered the most. It feels like we have to pay a high price, he says.
He had initially not received Bjarte Hjelmeland’s appeal.
– I almost wonder why I have not been asked to join. Now I’m turned around, he says humorously and laughs.
– Failure in all stages
Federation leader Hans Ole Rian in Creo, an association for art and culture that organizes 9,500 performing artists and technicians, reacts sharply to the corona initiatives in Bergen aimed at art and cultural life in the city.
– Here it has failed in all parts, Rian says to Dagbladet.
– The closure of cultural life in Bergen is neither targeted, adapted nor understandable. But there is no shame in turning around, so my appeal to Bergen municipality is that they turn around in time as soon as possible, he continues.
– Too drastic
Yesterday, Creo, like Bjarte Hjelmeland and other cultural workers in Bergen, sent a letter to the municipal management. Rian believes that it is important to take part in the corona charity event, but claims that the organized cultural life is pressured to take a disproportionate share of the burden.
– Going from events with 200 spectators to 50 is far too drastic.
– The culture industry has good routes, says Rian.
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No “cultural contagion”
He points out that so far no one has been infected by the coronavirus under the auspices of the serious cultural organizers.
– The audience needs access to art experiences and cultural activities.
– Not only has Bergen municipality forgotten to accept that this is an industry and an industry that also lives on ticket revenues. They have also forgotten that this is an industry that also depends on the audience’s expectations that the tickets they buy can actually be used, he says.
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Bergen municipality answers
Dagbladet has presented the Bergen municipality with the criticism from the above actors. In an e-mail, City Councilor for Culture, Diversity and Gender Equality, Katrine Berg Nødtvedt (MDG), writes that the municipality is introducing the measures on the basis of the “serious situation” and the infection control advice given.
– Experience shows that the risk of spreading the virus is greater where a large proportion of people are in the same place for some time, Nødtvedt writes.
