Grange Festival to take part in Covid Events Research Programme

The Grange Festival in Hampshire has been chosen as one of the venues for the UK Government’s Events Research Programme pilot scheme. This will enable the Festival to run performances from Thursday 1 July to Sunday 18 July inclusive at full capacity, in spite of lockdown regulations still being in place. Everyone attending will be required to provide proof of either a double vaccination, a negative Lateral Flow Test or natural immunity.   

Michael Chance, artistic director at The Grange, said: ‘This is a wonderful opportunity for The Grange Festival against the context of the multiple challenges which all performance venues have faced for the last 16 months. We realise that we are just a relatively small performing arts venue, but I hope that the evidence gained from our pilot scheme will assist the rapid unlocking of all theatres, and concert halls and cinemas and clubs and related venues across the country. We are privileged to have been chosen to be a guinea-pig. We all passionately hope for an open and thriving future for the arts in the UK, celebrated as they are across the world.’  

Pilot schemes such as that at The Grange are being rolled out by the UK government to gather evidence on coronavirus transmission at different types of events and the activities that surround them, and the extent to which mitigation measures can effectively address risks. Schemes involving capacity audiences have already been trialled at large-scale sporting events, pop concerts and major awards ceremonies, but so far the government has not released any findings, which has angered and dismayed many promoters around the UK.

Earlier this week a group of leading arts impresarios mounted a legal challenge to the UK government, demanding that data gathered  from the pilot schemes be shared with the arts industry on an on-going basis. A statement by the group, led by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Sir Cameron Mackintosh, said the government's withholding of findings had made it ‘impossible to plan for any live entertainment business’.

Lord Lloyd Webber questioned why large-scale sporting events such as Wimbledon and the Euro finals have been allowed to go ahead with near-capacity audiences, while around 5,000 smaller arts events face cancellation due to the extension of lockdown regulations to 21 July: ‘We simply must now see the data that is being used to strangle our industry so unfairly,’ he said. ‘The government's actions are forcing theatre and music companies off a cliff as the summer wears on, whilst cherry-picking high-profile sporting events to go ahead. The situation is beyond urgent."

Meanwhile, the culture minister Caroline Dinenage explained that the government’s Events Research Programme was still ongoing and that its results would be published ahead of the lifting of lockdown restrictions, once all the data had been gathered and analysed: ‘I am delighted that the Grange Festival will go ahead this summer as part of our Events Research Programme,’ said Dinenage ‘This year’s event will not only be a celebration of opera but also an important piece of scientific research which will help us get audiences back at full capacity across the country.’