Borgonzoni: abolish curfew and safely restart live performance

Abolish the curfew and safely restart the entertainment sector for the summer. This is the hope of Culture Undersecretary Lucia Borgonzoni, who has spoken on the subject several times in recent days. Borgonzoni’s thesis is that once the over-65s are secured, it will be possible to think about more extensive reopenings, thanks also to the change of pace on the vaccination campaign, which is now stably above 400,000 daily doses, with peaks of more than half a million becoming increasingly frequent. Moreover, according to Borgonzoni, it will be necessary to take advantage of the summer to prepare the country for winter and not repeat last year’s mistakes of unpreparedness.

On the abolition of the curfew, which Borgonzoni is pushing hard on in order to revive the entertainment sector (theaters, cinemas, concerts), she told Sky Tg 24 on May 5: “The curfew creates very big problems: one out of all, and I’m trying to make it clear to the control booth, the curfew at 10 p.m. actually prevents events in arenas, in stone theaters, all the summer events that have to start only when it gets dark. The thought that at 10 p.m. one has to be home is impossible. So on the one hand, from the health point of view, let’s say that some activities can be done, however, on the other hand with the curfew you don’t give the possibility to be able to do them.” Not to mention that there is also the problem ofpeople’s exasperation: “People want to go out,” Borgonzoni said, “it’s a problem that needs to be managed. We have to educate them to keep the mask where the mask should be kept, but on the other hand we have to give clear messages. You cannot think of keeping in good weather people locked in their homes.” Institutions, according to the undersecretary, should not have “punitive tasks,” but should admit mistakes and send clear messages to the population.

“Maintaining the curfew until 10 p.m.,” the undersecretary later said in an interview with the Resto del Carlino, “generates serious repercussions also from an economic point of view. Owners of arenas and open-air theaters have to organize as of now and cannot rely on feelings or wishes, so the government should introduce a rule that allows tickets in which the end time of cultural events is included to be used as if it were a pass. For example, if I want to go from Bologna to see a show at the Arena in Verona, I must have plenty of time to return.”

What rules then to get the sector back on track safely? Borgonzoni insists on the importance of the nominal ticket, tied to the day and time, and with that allow people to go to the theater in the evening even before the curfew is lifted. But it is precisely the latter measure, according to Borgonzoni, that is “a real absurdity.” “We have amply demonstrated,” the undersecretary argues, “that the greatest vectors of contagion are overcrowded public transportation and not restaurants or theaters with their patrons. Incidentally, with the arrival of the summer season, a 10 p.m. curfew is not conceivable, since many shows do not start until 9 p.m. Therefore, the curfew should absolutely be eliminated, and in anticipation of this happening, I have proposed using the individual ticket of the show, indicating the date and time of the start and end, as a justification for going home.”

The point is that organizers and workers in the sector need certainty so that they can recover: “The culture sectors, from cinemas (for which I have worked and worked so much), to theaters, to live clubs, whose managers I have already met, need certainty especially for October,” Borgonzoni concludes. “Even if we are all certain that there will be no need for these protocols, because the vaccinations will in fact be completed, those who have a place where culture is done must be able to plan events, and to do so today, they must have certainty. What the sector is asking for is to be able to start working again, not least because refreshments and supports are worth little if they do not resume with activities. Their non-resumption risks us losing the small musical, theatrical realities that are the beating heart of the sector. Under the Pnrr we are including many projects, with programming of calls for proposals for the establishment of centers of creativity.”

Borgonzoni: abolish curfew and safely restart live performance

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