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#mitabstandgehtesnicht - Große Kundgebung für die Veranstaltungsbranche in Frankfurt

22.06.2020 | 17:10 Clock | Culture
#mitabstandgehtesnicht - Große Kundgebung für die Veranstaltungsbranche in Frankfurt
#mitabstandgehtesnicht - Große Kundgebung für die Veranstaltungsbranche in Frankfurt
#mitabstandgehtesnicht - Große Kundgebung für die Veranstaltungsbranche in Frankfurt

On and in front of the STAGE DRIVE stage at the Jahrhunderthalle, numerous artists, employees of event agencies, artists, press and event agencies, technical companies and catering companies as well as theatre professionals gathered on Monday at 5 to 12 to draw attention to the catastrophic economic situation in the event industry. This rally will be followed tonight by the nationwide action NIGHT OF LIGHT, which we already told you about HERE and in which numerous cultural institutions and creators will also participate in Frankfurt.

After a melancholic prelude infused with hope for a better future, during which singer/songwriter Jonathan Zelter performed his new single "2030", the initiator of the action, S-Promotion managing director Stefan Schornstein, made it clear that the chosen hashtag #mitabstandgehtesnicht is not meant to imply that the event industry wants to break the distance. After all, keeping your distance and wearing mouth and nose protection, which (almost) all participants of the roughly two-hour rally adhered to despite steadily rising temperatures, are the best means against the spread of the virus. No, rather, the hashtag is meant to make it clear that the entire industry is financially unsustainable with the distance rules imposed. Drive-in concerts, such as those currently presented by S-Promotion on the Stage Drive stage, are just a drop in the bucket and are really only done so that culture can take place again at all.

The demand is clear: There must be a perspective for all the employees in Germany's second-largest industry after the automotive sector - many of them solo self-employed. After all, 1.2 million people are active in the event industry. These people were virtually banned from working more than three months ago and there is hardly any help - despite many promises from politicians. In order to change this situation, numerous creative artists and event organisers came to Frankfurt. On stage were legendary concert promoter Marek Lieberberg, Frankfurt theatre makers Michi Herl (Stalburg Theatre, Stoffel Festival) and Michael Quast (Volksbühne, Barock am Main), as well as local patriots such as Badesalz, Mundstuhl and Maddin Schneider, and national artists such as Bülent Ceylan, the Ehrlich Brothers, Mario Barth, cabaret artist Urban Priol and Faisal Kawusi. It was important to the artists that this rally was not about them, but about all the people who have brought them to where they are today. Because as Michi Herl put it so well, "Artists are also the ones who make art possible."

The reason for the rally is a serious one, because in most states there is still no perspective on when and how events can be held economically again. But the demand for a sign from politics that this industry is not forgotten, was sometimes also very humorous underpinned. So Gerd Knebel said, for example, with a wink, that one notices how important the concern is when the groups Badesalz and Mundstuhl, which are enemies to the core, stand together on one stage.

Comedian Roberto Capitoni didn't want to leave the stage: "Finally, people again," he said. "It really gives me goosebumps." He wasn't the only one, because during the rally there were some real goosebumps moments again and again: for example during the experience reports of a former homeless man, who fulfilled his dream and became a sound engineer, then built up his existence over the course of more than 13 years and made a name for himself in the industry, and is now faced with nothing again and works for an asparagus farmer to be able to pay at least part of his fixed costs. Or even a number by the Ehrlich Brothers, which made it clear in a drastic way that decisions from politics can mean the death blow for the entire industry. Also the moment when Urban Priol listed all the service providers who are employed in the event industry made clear how important it is to set a sign for the event industry and all the service providers associated with it through such a rally or through an action like the Night of Light.

Before Bülent Ceylan ended the rally with his version of the Marius Müller-Westerhagen classic "Freedom", it was once again emphasized how important culture is for our society, but also for our economy. It must not be that this industry suffers so much from the crisis, while there are significantly more relaxations and financial aids for other areas. Moreover, it is to be feared that in the coming years, when the money that is now being spent to save our economy has to be saved again, the first place to be cut will be culture. That's why it's important, says Michael Quast, that all those involved in the cultural sector campaign for the preservation of culture among the population, so that a current arises that prevents culture from being the butt of the joke, not only during but also after the crisis. We must never forget what is at stake here: an entire industry is threatened with extinction if it is not allowed to work now and is left alone financially. And therefore there must be a perspective, because #mitabstandgehtesnicht!

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