A lack of government support is been blamed for continued reservations of festival organisers to give the green light to events this summer. The financial risk involved in arranging festivals amid the uncertainty is causing headaches with insurance companies not willing to offer standard terms during the pandemic. The industry has been calling on the government to provide such insurance for events however as yet this has not been granted. In recent weeks Download, and Boomtown have joined Glastonbury in cancelling and more will follow. Boomtown organiser Anna Wade declared "It just became very clear that it was just far too risky financially" and explained it cost around 17 Million to stage a 70,000 capacity event each year.
As with other festivals, Boomtown couldn't find commercial underwriters willing to insure the festival but like Glastonbury may still be hopeful that other smaller scale events may be possible. Many other big events may follow a scaling down project this summer given the challenges. Chair of the House of Commons culture select committee explained "There is a great deal of opposition, I think, in the treasury to the idea that taxpayer money should be used to provide an insurance scheme for festivals."
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