Entertainment scene may return to normalcy soon

Imran Mojib, Special Correspondent

The Coronavirus pandemic has severely affected the UAE entertainment scene. The industry veterans wish to join hands with the government authorities to bring it back to normalcy as soon as possible.

With the restrictions easing across the region and many businesses once again able to run at 100 per cent capacity, the UAE is slowly returning to a ‘new normal.’ People in the entertainment sector believe that the creative market can adapt to the changed scenario and rebound quickly, revealed a recent survey.

The survey, conducted by industry expert Dan Bolton, involved 150 people across the entertainment scene to find out how their industry had been affected due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Most in our industry have been impacted however some more than others and we wanted to gather the data to establish which areas have been impacted the most. And we then wanted to establish appropriate measures that could be taken to safely reopen the industry when the time is right,” said Bolton, who was Artist Director for the inauguration of the Louvre Abu Dhabi in 2017 and was appointed the Senior Producer for Daily Entertainment for the Expo 2020 Dubai team.  

According to the statistics released, 86% of the respondents have thought about the necessary health and safety measures that would need to be implemented to return to performing safely.

Two-thirds of industry professionals would be willing to perform immediately with the necessary safety measures put in place. And one in five in the entertainment industry have already put in place procedures using information from local authorities.

The respondents believe that it will be another three months before the opportunities return. However, 90 per cent respondent said that they wanted to get clearer indications from the authorities when the industry may return, as nearly half of the respondents believe that physical distancing will have an impact on their on-stage performance. Speaking about the potential solutions, they said that creating industry-wide health and safety measures and creating small test events to re-establish consumer confidence and build as confidence returns should be the priority.