Shouts of joy among the cultural industry about the new support - but question marks remain.

On Maundy Thursday morning, the government announced that they will contribute an additional SEK 1.3 billion in crisis and stimulus support to the cultural industry.

Something that is received with joy by the country's cultural activists.

But many questions remain to be answered.

Above all, it is not yet known how the support will be designed.

“We are grateful for all the support that is directed at the hard-hit event industry, but the design of the support itself is extremely important for accuracy.

We still know nothing about it so we do not yet dare to hope too much.

We are disappointed that this decision differs from the proposal for guarantee support that was previously presented, which also included the month of June ", writes a representative from Live Nation to Kulturnyheterna.

"Excited by joy"

Skansen is one of the state-funded cultural institutions that receives special attention from the government with a total grant of SEK 125 million.

John Brattmyhr states that the support is much needed, given that the open-air museum this year expects about 700,000 guests - which is about 40 percent of normal volume.

- I am of course elated with joy.

We do not yet know how much support we will receive, but it is really great to be noticed in this difficult time, says John Brattmyhr, CEO of Skansen.

There are question marks

Joppe Pihlgren, operations manager at Svensk Live, welcomes the news of an event support of SEK 3 billion.

But so far there are several question marks about what the support should look like, he thinks.

- For example, there have been discussions about being approved by the Public Health Agency.

It needs to be efficient and simple to be functional, he says.

The target for many players has previously been set for the summer of 2021. But the still uncertain infection situation has forced several major events to be canceled this summer, and for the live industry it looks dark.

- The most recent application round to the Swedish Arts Council, the application pressure was 3.1 billion and there are 620 million in the coffers.

Therefore, it is very welcome that it is refilled now.

It has been so during the whole pandemic, that everyone hopes and believes that it will pass and then it will be a little longer than you thought, says Joppe Pihlgren.

Rather live on earned ticket revenue

Peter Fornstam, CEO of Svenska Bio, emphasizes that it is still unclear how much of the money goes to the Swedish Film Institute for further distribution to the cinema industry.

- To be really honest, we would rather live on honestly earned ticket revenue than on continued grants.

And what we in the industry are still questioning is why it is so important to keep the restrictions so harsh on us.

We grope for an explanation of why it is okay to go 500 at a gym but only 8 at the cinema, says Peter Fornstam and continues:

- We are grateful that we get this traction help because it is needed because the holes only get bigger, but with a reasonable explanation, this sacrifice on the altar would be easier.