Events in Romania: Romanians, willing to play by the rules

Exactly one year after the onset of the covid-19 pandemic, the Romanian Concert & Cultural Event Promoters’ Association (AROC) is releasing the results of a study conducted on a representative audience: event participants. The survey regarding actual and intended event participation in 2020 and 2021 had 13.568 respondents (people who actively participated in events in 2019, regardless of age and gender, in Romania) and took place between 3 - 12 February 2021. Distribution of survey was possible with the help of newsletters sent by the main ticketing companies of Romania to their buyers and briefings of AROC members for their data bases and active followers.

Of all 13.000 respondents, one third participated at 2 to 5 live events in 202, of which 90% felt good and safe. Over 80% said that they respected every safety measure just so they would be able to attend to the event, even if it was a bit uncomfortable.

For 2021, 90% of all surveyed responded that they would be willing to attend events whether the conditions will allow them to happen, over 72% said they were willing to get the vaccine in order to be able to attend, while the percentage grew to 76% for those willing to be tested prior to entering an event.

Regarding the international attendance of an event, 80% would attend if they know public testing is in place and nearly 60% feel comfortable with any number of public admission to the event.

”Romanian public is saying loud and clear: everybody wants events back. We are making huge efforts to persuade authorities to sit down with us at the same table and find ways to reopen the cultural sector. Unfortunately, there is no ending to this matter yet, but we are willing to work day and night for a reopening plan”, says Guido Janssens, president of AROC.

Our sector took the hardest hit and, even now- one year in the pandemic -, there is no institutional work group that could offer predictability for the events organizers, to understand our problems and to find solutions. We found a few ears in the Ministry of Culture, but they also find it hard to settle with the Government. There are solutions, we can present studies and proposals for measures and documents with hundreds of pages made by experts that show events can happen safely. Our request is the same as always: creating a work group with the Prime Minister cabinet which can analyse reopening options and find a way to speed  the process for state aid scheme in cultural sector”, says AROC representative.

The full study is available here

AROC is the Romanian Association of Promoters of Concerts and Cultural Events, comprised of festival and concert promoters operating in Romania, amongst which are the most representative actors on the Romanian market  (ARTmania - ARTmania Festival Sibiu / Blaj aLive, Fapte Association - Jazz in the Park, Mozaic Association - Mozaic Jazz Festival, Transylvania Film Festival Association - TIFF, BestMusic Live / METALHEAD, Comparty Events - diMANSIONS Hit Music Festival, Electric Castle, Emagic Live - Awake Festival, Global Records, Movement Team - Sports Festival, NEVERSEA , Plai Cultural Center - Plai Festival / JazzTM, SNRS - Sunwaves Festival, Sprint Media, Summer Well, The Institute, The Mission / Fall in Love Festival, UNTOLD, VRTW, Wine and Street Food Festival, Why Not Us - Street Food Festival, Wise Factor - The Fresh).