Cultural and artistic professionals, oftenly invest heavily in terms of time and equity in the preparation for the organisation of such activities for which any revenues are generated much closer to the activity.

In 2021, the Government throughout the pandemic has supported the CCSs heavily through the RESTART programme and other general initiatives such as the wage supplement. As these initiatives were targeted to actually sustain and support the resilience of the CCSs in a short to medium term, through this assurance facility, economic operators will gather the necessary momentum to actually plan for a longer term hence providing the necessary comfort to start planning and operating in a more sustainable manner.

Even though more and more professionals are being encouraged to start preparing for such productions, in view of the current global pandemic situation, even though, there is still a high level of uncertainty which is precluding them to move ahead, as the circumstances remain volatile and unprecedented changes may occur instantaneously.

In normal circumstances such uncertainties and risks are catered for through an insurance policy. However, as the situation is so volatile and the associated risks are significantly high, such professionals are not able to get an insurance cover for the eventuality that the activity has to be cancelled due to changes in restrictions.

The objective of the financial instrument is to setup an assurance facility specifically supporting the cultural and artistic activities which are directly impacted by the introduction of further restrictive measures due to COVID-19 pandemic.