Olivia PowellAlthough Serbia’s EXIT Festival has already announced that it will not be held in its standard format and dates this year, Ana Brnabic, Serbia’s Prime Minister, has asked organisers not to cancel the festival, but rather postpone it to August.
Brnabic said that due to the improvement of the health situation in Serbia and many other countries across Europe, the country’s health experts had recommended that the festival go ahead this summer: “We recommend to move the festival to August because we expect that the situation (with pandemic) in the whole of Europe will be totally under control by then.”
The organisers stated that they are welcoming the latest predictions by health experts in Serbia and the rest of the Balkan region, and said that, if needed, they would reduce the capacity of the event and take all precautionary measures.
EXIT’s Founder, Dušan Kovačević, said: “The festival in its full format with 55,000 per day and 40 stages will probably not return until 2021, but we are delighted to hear that health situation is becoming increasingly better and that we’ll be able to mark 20th anniversary of EXIT this summer with meaningful and safe event.
“Health and safety of the audience and everyone involved at the festival is our top priority. We will work closely with Health officials in order to take all precautionary measures and make festival in August as safe as possible. Between fear and optimism we always choose later and we’re thrilled that we will have opportunity to be together with our fans and favourite artists this summer.”
Those within the live event and festival industry have seen this as a sign that the recovery of the sector may be sped up. Yourope board member and one of the EXIT’s founders Ivan Milivojev believes that the latest developments can help to save the whole industry.
Milivojev said: “It’s no secret that the event industry was heavily hit by the pandemic, and the initial predictions were truly devastating to millions of jobs and families that depend on it.
“This decision is very important for event fans all around the globe as even in different formats and smaller capacities, if possible and safe, events could bring back much needed relief from the hardship we have all been through.”