“There is great dejection, total bewilderment and disappointment here,” said company director Ritty van Straalen to NOS. “We are stunned. Now that multi-day festivals are no longer allowed, young people are running in all directions again. They come together again in unsafe places such as parks and beaches, because they go their own way anyway.”
It also disturbs Van Straalen that the government opened almost everything “without consultation” a few weeks ago. “Without consultation with the industry, and while it was not yet properly arranged. That Testing for Access did not work at all. And now everything is being reversed. There will be another hard line through the entire summer.”
Something may be possible after August 13th. But it is doubtful whether a large festival can be organized immediately, according to the concert organizer.
“They think we’ll just set up a stage and arrange some artists. But we’re building entire cities, we’re already working on that,” says Van Straalen, who says the creative sector is “on the brink of collapse”. “It seems as if everything is being done to prevent our country from turning dark red and the consequences of the measures are not thought of. It is total arbitrariness.”
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