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The history of the folk parks - in 60 seconds

In mid-June, the public house and park movement was allocated just over SEK 6 million by the Swedish Arts Council in crisis support.

But the situation is still tough for the popular movement, which has more than 500 member associations in the country.

- No one has gone bankrupt by our members, but there are many who have a very tough situation. They have lost large parts of their income, says Calle Nathanson, CEO of Folkets Hus och Parker to SVT Nyheter.

Uncertain future for many

The associations have been able to save by laying off employees and reducing operating costs. And even if the cinemas have or will reopen, it is an uncertain future for many, says Nathansson.

- We have done a survey, it has not been released yet, but what I can say is that a proportion of the members say that they do not manage so many more months and another proportion who think they can manage for the rest of the year in any case. 

- We simply can not continue like this during the autumn. 

Are you worried that not everyone will make it? 

- Absolutely, if this with a maximum of 50 people at gatherings is to continue, it hits our movement hard and is directly bad.

- There is no logic that you can go to a mall but not go to a concert where you could regulate how you move and block off different areas. What is really necessary is to lift this ban and the only thing we know is that it will apply until the summer.

"Huge longing to meet"

At the same time, the corona pandemic has made it possible to learn to work in new ways.

- You do not have to gather everyone in the same room, but you can spread people to several places in different rooms, we did that when LO had a congress this spring and it worked very well.

Nathansson believes that many long to return to concerts, theaters and other events.

- There is a huge longing to meet and do things again and you notice that from all sides. Human contact is important and needed, he says.