Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1399957
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 AUGUST 2021 INTERVIEW 'Our industry has been made Before turning to the latest reg- ulations, announced this week: as a spokesperson for the arts and entertainment sector, what can you tell us about the situa- tion faced by MEIA's members right now? How have they been impacted by the crisis… and how – if at all – are they actu- ally coping? Let me start with this: setting up MEIA was not an easy task. The idea was to organize, and struc- ture, the various sectors of our industry into a single umbrella organization, and to give it a com- mon voice. But that involves get- ting competitors to work togeth- er; and as we all know, the arts and entertainment sector is a highly competitive industry. There are, of course, 'egos' involved… not to mention a little 'drama', here and there, as you can probably im- agine… All the same, however: I must admit that the response was amazing. The industry is, as you say, facing a crisis; but it is also more united, and stronger, than it ever was before. Ironically, the pandemic itself helped achieving that unity; in the sense that it re- quired stake holders to forget any differences, and get together for a common goal. But that, of course, is poor con- solation for all the other ways the pandemic has impacted our in- dustry. Apart from the obvious – i.e., that people in the arts and entertainment sector have basi- cally been out of work for over 18 months - it has also impacted peo- ple psychologically. Some have left the career of their dreams, to take up a safer job somewhere else; and those in the industry who employ others, are now losing their employees to other industries, for the same reason. So there's that; and also, the fact that the professional stakeholders in our industry – the ones who have invested in the sector; who have taken risks; and for whom this is not a 'hobby', but their full- time job, their daily bread-and- butter – those, obviously, have been impacted the most. But what a lot of people out there might not realise is that – on top of all the other problems caused by the pandemic – these people are also impacted by unfair competition coming from illegal, amateur events. And this is one of the issues that we are concerned with, at MEIA. We feel that a distinction has to made, between the professionals who are involved in the sector… and the amateurs, who are endan- gering the livelihoods of others by breaking the rules. To give you an example of how it works in practice: people who do things properly, and professional- ly, have to abide by all the regula- tions; the amateurs, on the other hand, don't. It's as simple as that, really… This naturally brings us to the regulations themselves. MEIA has expressed 'disappoint- ment' that the restrictions on standing events were not lifted, as expected; but what were you proposing yourselves? First and foremost, our propos- als were based on two particular pillars of science-related under- standing. One of them is herd immunity; and the other is vacci- nation. Herd immunity, as you know, is achieved either naturally by the immune system, working on its own; or – as in this case - with the help of a vaccine. Now: we do have a vaccine: Malta is, in fact, the most vaccinated country in the world. So, on that understand- ing: we expected a situation which – slowly but surely – would open up in a way that lets us operate… in the same way that other indus- tries can operate. So first of all, there is an issue of discrimination between dif- ferent industries. Take the exam- ple of factory, in which there are 500 people all working together. Those people don't live together; they don't all come from the same household; yet if one of those 500 employees gets infected… he or she could potentially spread the virus to 500 other people. Yet factories – to stick to that one example - are allowed to operate; while the entertain- ment industry is not... even with gatherings of a lot less than 500. Clearly, something doesn't add up… So, bearing all this in mind: in our previous meetings [with the health authorities], we had proposed a staggered approach: with both seated and stand- ing events starting immediately from end-July. The original aim for seated events was to begin with clusters of 100, gradually increasing to 500: and this is, in fact, what Deputy Prime Minis- ter Chris Fearne announced this week. As for the standing events; we had suggested a similar ap- proach: gradually increase from 100 to 300 by the end of August. But this [standing events] is the part that has been put on hold – temporarily, we hope – because of the recent increase in new cases. And to be fair, this was always on the cards. All along they had told us: 'Look, if things change, we will have to revisit'. And that's perfectly understandable… And yet, MEIA is still complain- ing about the new regulations: even though you yourself seem to be admitting that the health authorities' decision was justi- fied on public health grounds. Isn't this a contradiction? Let's be clear: we're not scien- tists. But we have no difficulty understanding why scientists, worldwide, argue that seated events are less cause for alarm [than standing ones]. This is true, even from our own experience. In a seated environment, people can congregate in an organized manner; and you can apply mit- igation measures. In standing events, however, all those miti- gation measures immediately go out of the window. What normally happens is that, once you open the gates, every- body rushes forward, right up to the stage. And that is obviously a problem, from the perspective of trying to control the spread of an infectious disease. So yes: of course, we do un- derstand that there are health concerns. We are certainly not proposing just opening the flood- gates to mass-events, or anything like that. But we do need to agree on a way forward. This is why, for instance, we originally wanted more than just a plan that takes us only to the end of August. We wanted a roadmap until the end of the year. Why? Because this is an in- dustry based on planning. If you The Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association has existed for just over a year now: partly as a response to the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. But as its president HOWARD KEITH DEBONO warns: the industry needs a proper, long-term roadmap, if it is to get back on its feet Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt JAMES BIANCHI