No ‘bumper summer’ for events

People in the events industry devastated by mass cancellations under the Covid-19 red setting say they were used as a carrot to get people vaccinated, and now they need support from Government.

Thousands of people including technicians, roadies and performers face losing up to half their annual income after the country moved to the red Covid-19 setting on Sunday night.

Events such as Auckland music festival Splore, Auckland Pride Festival, and New Zealand Fashion Week have been canned, and many other live events, big and small, are up in the air after the 100-people limit was imposed.

‘‘You’re only one press conference away from it all going,’’ said James MacKenzie, the general manager of NW Group, which installs audio and lighting systems at events.

MacKenzie said the industry would be hollowed out if workers were not supported financially.

‘‘A lot of people have used up their savings, this one’s probably the last straw for a lot of people, and they’ll go off into other industries. It’s not an overstatement to say it’s certainly an industry that was already on its knees but is now very much on the brink for a lot of people.’’

In busy weeks the company had up to 130 people on its books, a mix of full time as well as casual and contract staff.

‘‘Our concern, like a lot of people’s, is how we’re going to support those staff, particularly the casuals and contractors, there’s no wage subsidy.’’

Finance Minister Grant Robertson said last week that wage subsidies and resurgence support payments would not be available for businesses in the event of an Omicron outbreak, although the Government would monitor the situation.

He said that instead of a ‘‘blanket wage subsidy-type scheme’’, the Government would focus on supporting businesses via the leave support scheme.

MacKenzie said without that financial support, workers on contracts will leave to get other jobs and may not return.

‘‘We’re not questioning the Government health response, and having 10,000 people [at an event] isn’t good for a pandemic, but we’re asking for a bit of industryspecific support.’’

Sarin Moddle, who made most of her money from music tour management, said the Government used entry to festivals and gigs to encourage people to get vaccinated, but while the rest of New Zealand ‘‘got to have their summer’’, event workers just starting on their golden run have been shut down.

‘‘The next months are the bumper months that we were all relying on to make up for four months of lockdown last year, and we’re already a seasonal business anyway, so the timing of it is particularly devastating.’’

Moddle said she was due to make about 45 per cent of her annual income between January 15 and March 31, but that had been slashed to $900. For her, the red light was like going back into lockdown, economically. There was a lot of support in the industry for public health measures and the need to protect people.

But there were also fears for the future if venues shut and experienced workers had to look elsewhere for jobs.

Moddle said two support schemes for the arts and events sector were flawed and not sufficient to take care of the industry.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Event Transition Support Payment scheme aimed to provide confidence for promoters of bigger events, and the Ministry of Culture and Heritage’s $22.5 million Arts and Culture Event Support Scheme was aimed at smaller events.

MBIE’s scheme mentioned ‘‘unrecoverable costs’’, which Moddle said was a grey area.

‘‘Most promoters are thinking ‘unrecoverable is money I’ve already spent’.

‘‘There’s like 90 per cent of the workforce that doesn’t actually show up on site until very close to the event, so we don’t know if we get to be unrecoverable costs.’’

She said some promoters and organisers were not aware of the Ministry of Culture and Heritage’s scheme, and there were some grey areas with that as well.

Many small venues could only hold on for another four to six weeks before defaulting on their leases, while ‘‘probably half, if not more’’ of production companies had about four months before hitting the wall, she said.

Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni said she met with officials on Wednesday to discuss feedback and look at possible changes to the Covid recovery response for the sector.