Concerns of the cultural world: a new lockdown would be a disaster

There is grave concern in the cultural world about what might happen with the curfews that are now spreading like wildfire throughout the regions (and may soon become a reality for all of Italy), or even with new lockdowns that the government may impose in the coming days (if not hours) to mitigate the spread of the rising Covid-19 contagion. It is already widely understood that museums, cinemas, theaters and concert halls are not considered to be commodity-dispensing activities (although museums nevertheless fall under essential public services), and it is therefore to be expected that the sector, despite having scrupulously adhered to the rules, and despite not having registered any cases of positivity, much less contagion, among the public, will be among the first to succumb.

Insiders are therefore beginning to make their first appeals to the government, asking it to ease the restrictive measures for the industry. Among the first, Francesco Giambrone, president of theNational Association of Opera and Symphony Foundations (ANFOLS), stressed last Oct. 15 that opera houses “want to continue to stay open and are safe places where, thanks to the strict application of all protocols , safety measures are being ensured throughout Italy to prevent contagion even in situations where cases have been recorded,” and recalled that “in these post-lockdown months both the public and workers have shown a high sense of responsibility in complying with all regulations and activities have been carried out in total safety.” A new closure would lead to serious sustainability problems for the sector, which would still persist even in the event of a reduced-rank opening, and for this reason Giambrone appeals to the minister of cultural heritage, Dario Franceschini, “so that adequate economic interventions are provided to put us in a position to continue our activities, confirming our role as a public service that employs thousands of people and the fundamental importance of cultural and performing arts activities in the country’s recovery strategies.”

Uncertainty also holds in its grip the world of cinemas, another sector that has proven to be safe, with no cases of positivity among moviegoers, and compliance with all regulations: cinemas, theaters and concert halls are required to track all moviegoers and keep lists for two weeks. “We need to find solutions that do not go against the regulations but harmonize the situation we are experiencing, starting precisely from the fact that cinemas and theaters from a social point of view are among the safest situations,” Lionello Cerri, founder and managing director of Anteo SpazioCinema, a chain of multiplexes operating in Lombardy, stressed in an interview with Panorama. “Losing even the 8:30 p.m. show would be a disaster. Cinemas and theaters are committed to closing their theaters at 11 p.m., but as Agis and regional Anec we have asked the Lombardy Region to allow the viewer those 20 to 30 minutes it takes to go home. Everything can be easily controlled by the authorities since the spectator would be provided with a ticket, which attests to the day and time of the performance. Smart formulas must be found that still allow people to experience their own sociality outside their homes. And also to avert what is ultimately akin to a lockdown. We have to find solutions that self-limit but guarantee us, among us citizens. We cannot think of coming to a situation of complete lockdown, which would be a collective disaster for everyone.”

The proposal to consider the ticket (for the cinema, for the theater, but at this point also for the museum, in the case of an extended lockdown) as a certificate of circulation to travel to the place of performance, event or visit had also been launched in these columns by the director of Finestre sull’Arte, Federico Giannini, last week, before the curfew was decreed (also to give a signal of important impact, Giannini stressed: “closing everything in the evening except for cinemas and theaters would also be a move of strong social value, to communicate that, at this time, we need culture more than ever”), just as it was supported by other industry figures, for example the president of Milan’s Elfo-Puccini Theater, Firoenzo Grassi, who from the pages of the Milan edition of Corriere della Sera addressed a request to regional president Attilio Fontana to allow audiences to return home after 11 p.m. by showing their tickets as a “pass.” Theaters, Grassi stressed, “are places of maximum security.”

On the museum front, the intervention of Roberto Grandi, president of the Bologna Musei Institution, should be noted, who pointed out to Bologna Today that museums are among the safest places, “in the sense that few people enter, 8 or 10, in very large spaces,” but also among the hardest hit, since they have to do without foreign tourists and students, with the result that, at least in Bologna, attendance is down by 50 percent. However, according to Grandi, museums are at less risk than theaters, but there are still major budget problems, which are currently being filled thanks to increased cost savings and the postponement of some exhibitions.

In Parliament, taking on the sector’s concerns and uncertainties was Senator Daniela Sbrollini of Italia Viva, who addressed a question to Minister Franceschini last Oct. 21, in the aftermath of the dpcm on Sunday 18: “considering that,” Sbrollini wrote in her question, “the wave of contagions that has swept the country in recent months has jeopardized the economic resilience of the sector related to live performances; nevertheless, the measures put in place to date to support the income of workers have provided an effective response; any and further restriction measures, however, would make the forms of support for the cultural sector far insufficient to ensure a decent standard of living for those working in the sector; current published data on the subject show that the sector has, on the whole, achieved high standards of safety through adherence to hygiene and sanitation protocols, levels that have enabled thousands of spectators to attend countless performances, at which very few cases of COVID-19 positivity have been recorded.” the senator asks to know “what specific initiatives the Minister in charge intends to activate in order to mitigate and mitigate the measures prepared by the Regions that risk further affecting the sector of theaters, cinemas and shows with public attendance, also in view of the great prevention action implemented by the sector as a whole during the past months and the need to guarantee the necessary economic support to the sector.”

Image: Distancing at the Duse Theater in Bologna (photo taken last June 15)

Concerns of the cultural world: a new lockdown would be a disaster

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