This is a follow-up to my last blog entry “My personal Night-Shift: Finding Out about the Importance of a Topic“, where I outlined my personal journey towards understanding the significance of the night and culture in urban development.

Introduction: The Night – The Forgotten Time in City Development

I spend most of my working time on projects on sustainable city development. When I bring up the topic of the urban night in this professional context, I often encounter similar reactions: Either a grin or a confused look. A reaction that seems to ask, “this is a fun topic, but what exactly is the connection to what we’re doing here?“. Being in a professional context, I have the impression people want talk about professional topics. And these reactions suggest a perception that the night is not one of them; maybe a topic more for leisure, relaxation or socialising and distinct from ‘serious’ urban issues.¹

Much like in my previous blogpost, I want to challenge this notion with a bold claim: What if the after-work hours are precisely when we can best address some of the most pressing urban challenges?²

With insights from my colleagues at Fraunhofer, vibelab, and beyond, I’ve shaped my thoughts around this idea. This blog post will explore those around three core thoughts:

Cosequently, could it be, that the disconnect between after-work life and the sustainable city development agenda is a major factor of what’s slowing our progress towards major urban transitions?⁶

To tackle the global challenges we face, we need creativity and the cognitive ability to break away from old patterns – qualities that are often more accessible in the after working hours, when we can easier move away from the constraints of formal professional settings².

The underlying reasons sustainable/green city development and cultural engagement/nightlife aren’t already central to mainstream urban planning are similar: Difficulties in attributing the benefits they provide for society as a whole in economic terms.^3 4 5 If the underlying reasons why they are overlooked resemble each other, overlaps should be able to be identified; and consequently ameliorating one sphere could inform and enhance the other simultaneously. Therefore, synergies between the two should exist and could be actively developed and used.

The Night: Why Is It Underrepresented?

The figure below summarises the key points drawn from the publications I read in the process of getting acquainted with the overall topic of nighttime socioeconomics and nighttime ecology. The mentioned arguments made a lasting impression on me and I tried summarising their essence in the following (see footnotes)⁷.

Nocturnal Ecology and Nocturnal Socioeconomics opposed

What literature says:

Societal Perspective^1 6 8 9 : What struck me most was a frequently described and seemingly common pattern among urban planners, policymakers, and researchers alike: Most prefer daytime for their professional activities, often neglecting night-time considerations once their workday ends.

Ecological Perspective^{4 9 10 5 11}: Interestingly, to me, most of the key observations in articles from this context could be applied to both ecological and socioeconomic aspects of nighttime. I added the possible relevance for the socioeconomic sector in brackets behind the original arguments I took from my ecological readings:

• Nighttime plays a critical role in ecological balance, analogous to its importance during daytime, yet it remains a niche area of research. (Undoubtly this is true for the societal sphere as well. I’d argue (night-)culture plays a critical role in societal balance. In the societal sphere there is a large advocacy movement on all levels of governance. Yet the topic itself is still far from being part of mainstream city development).
• Its significance is frequently underestimated, leading to its underrepresentation in ecological considerations (…and in urban planning discussions).
• The preference among ecologists to work during daytime contributes to the scarcity of focus on nocturnal studies. (Just like their counterparts in urban planning).

The Challenge with Economics and Economic Metrics

Like in any sector, economic considerations are a driving factor (if not THE driving factor) cities are fundamentally influenced by. Like the economy as a whole, cities aim to create an economically sound and thriving environment for their inhabitants and economic actors. Which itself ultimately underlies all subsequent activities. However, this economic focus often is a difficult fit with both cultural and ecological initiatives. Let me give you two illustrative examples:

Socioeconomic Aspects: Prevailing Informality⁹

• During almost all of my side gigs while studying and working in hospitality/nightlife, I received my wage payment in cash. These transactions never made it into official economic statistics or tax-related key performance indicators (KPIs). This situation reflects a broader reality: A significant portion of nighttime economy is informally managed, often out of necessity due to stringent regulations. It is therefore not fully represented in financial KPIs of a city. Simply increasing enforcement, such as deploying more tax officers, is not a practical solution.

Ecological Considerations: The Parking Spot Problem^10 5 11

• Think about the lifecycle of a typical urban parking spot. Initially, there’s a one-time investment to pave the area. Install a parking meter, and the city enjoys a steady inflow of cash from users. Favourable budgeting no-brainer!
• Now, replace that parking spot with a public garden or a tree. While the initial costs might be similar for removing asphalt and planting, the ongoing expenses for maintenance like gardening and watering present a less appealing economic case under traditional city budgeting models¹². Despite numerous studies showing the financial and social benefits of greener urban spaces, widespread adoption remains limited without public intervention.

In a Nutshell: Qualitative Aspects outweigh Monetary Benefits

There’s a reason, why the above mentioned economic metrics are ever so popular: Simplicity. City administrators, planners, politicians, and executives often operate under tight deadlines, needing to make swift but far-reaching decisions. They rely on clear, quantitative data to inform and justify their decisions (in the best case displayed (visually on e.g. dashboards)⁸).

Integrating new frameworks of calculus, that integrate e.g. the environment⁵, requires extra effort: Data collection, harmonisation, staff training, IT infrastructure etc. So, why not stick with simpler, straightforward metrics?

But to me, could not the viewpoint and angle be a difficult fit from a start:

What if the non-monetary benefits that both culture and nature bring to urban environments significantly outweigh their economic benefits? Imagine the value of spending time with friends under a leafy tree outside a charming café, or the lasting memories created from a night out at a lively bar or club. How do we quantify these experiences? For those of us reflecting on our youth, how significant are these memories for you?

Yet, either way you turn it: In the real world as of now, there’s no escaping economic metrics. They underlie all subsequent activities. Even if economic benefits are not the target of the things you try to set in motion through cultural and green city development.

But change comes gradually. And we may try being a part of it :)…

The Missing Link

Through my experiences in both sustainability and socioeconomic sectors of city development, including my role at the Nighttime Innovation Network at Fraunhofer since 2022, I have observed a critical gap in how these two spheres intersect and influence city planning. Let me give you my main observations in concise bullet points:

• Large-Scale Integration Lacking – There is a notable absence of a systematic, large-scale linkage between ecological sustainability and the socioeconomic aspects of the after-work time. Each sphere often attempts to address problems related to sustainability based on its own understanding, without substantial cross-disciplinary collaboration. The link yet has to be made in an systematic way on large scale (e.g. in the multilateral sustainable city development my employer Fraunhofer and the Department of Urban Systems Engineering pursues)¹³.

• Small-Scale Conflict Mediation Dominates – In the realm of nightlife and socioeconomics, the focus often remains on resolving immediate, localised conflicts (e.g., between a bar, a restaurant and its neighbourhood) rather than fostering broader synergies that could benefit the city as a whole. Again, because the link mentioned above is seldom systematically made.
• Focus on Conflict Resolving rather than on Synergies – In the topic, discussions often circulate around human activity and its collision with the needs of ecology. Focussing on the conflicts can lead to a further mismatch between needs of ecology and current urban and economic realities. Finding common ground gets difficult and discussions lengthy. Realigning the focus on the development of synergies could possibly have a greater impact and positive entanglement of societal and ecological advocates. An example here could be the ‘light pollution’ debate ¹⁴ , which is one of the center discourses in the field. It is a crucial topic to address. Yet, I think it is a term that inherently suggests conflict rather than cooperation between human needs and environmental considerations¹⁵. Put very simply: Nature wants it dark, humans want it illuminated. It requires a lot of negiotiation and education to change this (please see footnotes^16 17 18). Also within each sphere the prevailing discourses focus on conflict resolution rather than creation of synergies. ^1 9 14

The Benefits – What Do Culture and Ecology Offer, Why Are They Both Vital for Cities?

Both culture and ecology significantly enrich urban life, providing a host of amenities that enhance the liveability and appeal of cities³. These two spheres are fundamental to the attractiveness of urban areas, influencing not only the residents and visitors but also playing a crucial role in where people choose to reside, especially in Western societies.

Fair enough, but here I want to make the bold and (to me) straightforward assumption, that culture and ecology both are at the very core of why some cities continue to thrive while others descend:

What happens if a city is not healthy for its inhabitants or for them to raise their kids? Yes, easy answer: If they can, people will try moving somewhere else.¹⁹

What happens if a city is not safe/stable to live in? Yes, easy answer: If they can, People will try moving somewhere else.

What happens if a city is not attractive to live in? Yes, easy answer: If they can, people will try moving somewhere else.¹⁹

Ecological and Socioeconomic Dimensions of the Urban Night Side-by-Side

For some of the mentioned characteristics both do not only contribute to attractiveness, which is a more or less optional urban development area, but also to vital urban functions³ that are at the core of what a city needs to offer to its citizens: E.g. safety and economic vitality or cooling and water management. Without those, a city will only poorly function.

The Figure above hightlights the individual role of socioeconomics and ecology within the urban system … What could be possible if we try bridging and synergising both?

Finding Ways Forward – Finding the Synergies

Proposition: Green Urbanism and Night-Culture in Synergy to enhance the Urban System as a whole.

Okay, good we know now…. But what do?!

To me, we should try finding an easy beginning. A beginning where we most likely will face little confrontation but enable those much-spoken synergies in a visible way. The link needs to be easy for everyone to understand the connections and the benefits what thinking about the “other sphere” can provide. Then over time, we may add the more delicate topics that maybe require more discussion and negotiation.

Together with Lutz Leichsenring from Vibelab, I, through my employer Fraunhofer IAO and the Department of Urban Systems Engineering started this process. Among other conferences and thanks to Lutz and Vibelab, I could take part in the ‘South by Southwest Conference and Festival – SXSW’ and the panel “The Transformation of Nightlife for a Sustainable Tomorrow”. This was the onset of our common considerations and since then we meet every couple of weeks to inspire us and to push things forward.

Push Things to Where?!

• One of the easiest links you may find bridging those spheres is Green Soundproofing. I wrote an article on our institute’s blog about this and soon afterwards a couple (!) of German cities reached out and showed their interest. The thought is easy: We spend so much on greening our cities, why not include nighttime culture and get double the benefit?
• And I’d say this is exactly the way to go: Find and make use of the easy links. Make it visible. Make it bold. But above all make it easy to participate.
• Well, listen closely: Coming to your city soon. Vibelab and Fraunhofer will make it happen :)!

… We will provdide a detailed description of our Green Soundproofing concept, the other initiative in the making (“Urban Systems Network Smart City @ Night”) and other practical ideas in the upcoming blogpost. Open-Source and free, just like both night and nature should be :)…

Epilogue: Seeing in the Dark – Nighttime’s Potential in Urban Innovation

Reflecting on why night-time issues remain underrepresented in urban planning reinforces my belief in the need for integrating efforts across both cultural and ecological dimensions. Ultimately, strategies that promote sustainable or green city development can be inherently beneficial for cultural and socioeconomic initiatives and vice versa.

A couple of weeks ago, I watched Jim Jarmusch’s “Night on Earth”, where a taxi driver picks up a blind passenger²⁰. The dialogue goes like this:

Taxi Driver: “It must be really hard to be blind, you’re unable to do so many things.”
Blind Woman: “Listen, jerk, I can do anything you can and a lot of things you’ll never do. I’m blind, that’s all.”
Taxi Driver: “You can’t drive a car, for example.”
Blind Woman: “And you can?”

The joke is, that the driver soon has an accident after this talk.

To me, this dialogue set in motion a stream of thought. I see that this could be understood as metaphor for the topic of this blog post. Urban development has perhaps been ‘blind’ to the full potential night and culture can offer. With the urban re-greening initiatives underway but in a rather ambient pace, also urban development may does not ‘see’ the full beneficial value of re-naturing cities.

Earlier this year, I attended the “Blind Date with Stuttgart” exhibition, an event that transformed participants’ understanding of their environment by navigating a replica of common places in Stuttgart in complete darkness. We were guided by blind individuals. It was unimaginable how difficult I found it to find my way. I and the other participants had to rely on our other senses – feeling, hearing and scenting.

And this is where I see a possible connection to the topic at hand:

City development, to grasp all possible benefits, disbenefits and pathways, requires a full spectrum of senses. Perhaps it’s not about ‘making cities ‘see” the night or about ‘taking cities’ ‘blindness” towards the incredible potential of culture and greening through conventional pathways, by e.g. adapting conventionally used economic metrics, coming up with new KPIs or merging existing ones into more sophisticated units. We tried this with extensive sustainable urban development programmes in the past decades.

Maybe it is more about developing a new ‘sense’ or readjusting towards other, maybe forgotten ‘senses’ for how the urban environment functions around the clock.

Could developing the bespoken synergies be a way? Let us find out. And if you want, let us find out together.

A special thank you to Lutz for revising this text.

… Be in touch: niklas.effenberger@iao.fraunhofer.de

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This year, I had the opportunity to participate in a panel discussion at the ‘South by Southwest Conference and Festival – SXSW’ titled “The Transformation of Nightlife for a Sustainable Tomorrow” – how exciting!¹

But besides this exciting opportunity, besides the fact of being able to travel to Austin, to meeting interesting people and to talking on a panel; over the past years the topic grew closely to my heart.

I genuinely believe, that linking the environmental transition a lot of cities worldwide pursue, with culture and nightlife could benefit both worlds drastically. And guess what – I’m not alone!²

Good panel, good Conference, good mood – let’s go :)!

But let’s go step by step – how did this all start?

Back in the days in 2022, when I started working at Fraunhofer IAO, I took over a project called the Nighttime Innovation Network from my predecessor Jennifer: A series of workshops aimed at resolving conflicts between different interest groups in urban nights. Participants included artists, representatives of nighttime advocacy groups, public authorities (public order office), police, firefighters, security personnel, club and bar owners, and city officials, including Stuttgart’s first Night Mayor.

Due to former engagements as waiter, bartender and kitchen helper several local venues, and due to some of my volunteering activities, I had hands-on experience on how nightculture can look like from both ends. And the issues that may come with it. Now in this workshop, even my city’s first Night Mayor participated. All was pretty exciting for me!

The workshops (all online due to Covid-aftermath) followed a consistent structure: Intro done by Hendrik Meier from Vibelab³ and me, then breakout sessions in different groups, then discussion in big group. Then Hendrik and me synthesising the findings on paper.

Over time and over multiple workshop sessions together we went through identifying overarching themes and subtopics. To then be able to identify related challenges and possible solutions⁴. This process yielded a long list of possible ways forward, from which we compiled a more general and concise version in the form of policy recommendations. I could present the findings at the about pop conference on night-culture and we received a positive feedback⁵.

However, one thing stayed with me — during the discussions, also the one during the conference, it was challenging to keep myself and everyone else ‘on track’. We were constantly tempted to switch between different layers of the problem — switching seamlessly talking about individual and specific examples to the ‘bigger picture’ and general implications – back and forth. Localised and individual best-practice examples and overall policy implications were being discussed at the same time. Nevertheless, we managed it and the outcome was useful and well-received! In hindsight this experience proved to be very insightful for me.

The project finished, and sadly, no follow-up funding was secured, so in my working days the Nighttime Innovation Network was naturally replaced with other projects. But I still thought about the topic. I began reading mostly on nocturnal insects and their relationship to light ⁶ and I could get hold of the newly published book Managing Cities at Night: A Practitioner Guide (see p. 110 for explicit mention and call for action sustainability-nighttime; throughout the book only minor role)⁷.

At NOEK conference – talking about how the night is hiding in plain sight

A nocturnal Aha-Moment

It wasn’t until 2023 that I was invited to speak on a panel titled ‘The Night – The Forgotten Time in City Development’ at the NOEK Conference in Mannheim⁸. Just by reading the title, it clicked. I saw what I did not see before: All the projects I was involved with at Fraunhofer dealt with cities, and all the frameworks and initiatives within them dealt with cities, yet none of them touched on the topic of the night.

My thinking went like this:

• “Aha… day and night are roughly equal in duration, yet our projects primarily focus on daytime…”⁹
• “Hmmm, but we had the Innovation Network that happened for the night…. Wait a second… funding ran out and everybody went their way. Inside my other projects I am not asked about the topic…
• It came to me that during the Nighttime Innovation Lab, there was the exclusive participation of socioeconomic actors, without the ecological or environmental view present. The topics are covered only in parallel – either the ecological/sustainable city’s perspective or the nocturnal-socioeconomics side..¹⁰”
• All the discussions I had with colleagues and friends on the topic came back to me, wow!
• And attending NOEK reinforced my understanding, how common this theme is

Morgenstadt Twilight Innovations – Moving forward and trying to find a way

Happy times at SXSW, Photo shot by Andrea Escobar

In the aftermath of this conference I intensified my reading with the texts by Kevin J. Gaston, Vibelab and Jordi Nofre.

And then – it was all magic – I reached out to Lutz and to Jordi, I enthusiastically travelled to SXSW, met many like-minded people, and experienced many new ‘click’ moments. One statement from the panel by Lutz resonated with me: That due to rising temperatures, urban life will likely shift towards the evening and night, making the topic ever more crucial to address.¹¹

I thought to myself: “Well – how more important can it all get?!”

As 2024 goes on, with the help of my supervisors we could set-up a consortium on green soundproofing and start with the development of the ‘Industry Network -Smart City @ Night-‘. Several other ideas are in the pipeline and I’d be so happy to share and possibly get -you, reading this text- on board :).

I will continue with the concepts we came up with in my next blog post – Thanks for reading; btw – this is my first blogpost, yay!

1. Thanks to my sponsors allowing me to participate at SXSW – Lutz and Vibelab for the invitation and the ongoing inspiring discussions. And to The German Center for Research and Innovation New York for the financial support. See also description of our panel. ↩
2. First and foremost Lutz from Vibelab. As well Jordi Nofre who replied my mails and took time talking to me. Jordi’s research helped me a lot in understanding the topic better. E.g.: “The Urban Ecological Transition and the Future of Europe’s Nightlife Industry” (2023),doi: 10.1080/16078055.2022.2162112; Side note: I couldn’t find Jordi’s Article on Sci-hub.That’s why I reached out to him and that’s why we are in touch until today. Sometimes barriers can create connections :)…. Also Kevin J. Gaston’s work helped me very much, e.g.: “The Nocturnal Problem Revisited” (2019), doi: 10.1086/702250 and “Anthropogenic Changes to the Nighttime Environment” (2023), doi: 10.1093/biosci/biad017; ↩
3. Hendrik was Germany’s first publicly elected night-mayor. He was working in the city of Mannheim. A nice place. At the time of the workshop he was affiliated with Vibelab. ↩
4. See the slides. ↩
5. about pop conference and festival Stuttgart. A special thank-you to Stuttgart’s first night mayor Nils Runge for saving us a spot in the agenda for our discussions. ↩
6. See this recent paper: Fabian, S.T., Sondhi, Y., Allen, P.E. et al. Why flying insects gather at artificial light. Nat Commun 15, 689 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-44785-3. ↩
7. Book, released just in the right time for me: Acuto, Michele, et al. Managing Cities at Night: A Practitioner Guide to the Urban Governance of the Night-Time Economy. 1st ed., Bristol University Press, 2022. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv22jnkcq. (see p. 110 for explicit mention and call for action sustainability-nighttime; throughout the book only minor role) ↩
8. By happy coincidence – initially my supervisor was invited to go but hat a conflicting event. Link to NOEK Conference Mannheim. ↩
9. Writing this makes me feel kinda silly – this is all so obvious, right?! ↩
10. please note: This is simplified and reflecting my personal journey. I am trying to target the bigger picture with my argument and I do not want to discredit initiatives that already move in this and in bridging both worlds. What I personally observed is that in this context, topics related to sustainability are often approached from the cultural/societal sphere’s vision and concept, not as someone from the ecological or city-development sphere might frame them. This goes vice-versa. I vividly remember a discussion between an lighting-experienced ecologist and a cultural/societal night-time advocate, where finding common ground was extremely difficult. ↩
11. You can already see this happening in the real world. See an article from September 9, 2023 in the Washington Post – “Extreme heat is forcing America’s farmers to go nocturnal”(paywall). ↩

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“Before the pandemic, around 15-20 international acts would DJ in Tbilisi each weekend,” recalls Georgian nightlife industry stalwart David Lezhava, managing director of the recently formed Cultural and Creative Industries Union of Georgia. “But some local DJs bring more listeners than an international star ever could.”

It’s the kind of local pride night creators in other parts of the world dream of. And, as any traveller who has been on a dance floor pilgrimage to Tbilisi can verify, fully deserved. “Tbilisi has become a major international electronic music destination lately,” Lezhava continues. “The club culture has been exemplary and the works of local artists have laid the foundation for new cultural processes in the country.”

Electronic music and nightlife culture was certainly having a moment in Georgia’s capital in the 20-teens. A creative boom was busy expressing itself in the growing number of bars, nightclubs, music venues and multi-purpose cultural spaces dotted across the vibrant cityscape, and the world was taking notice, with techno-tourists flocking to Tbilisi for bucket-list nightclubs like Bassiani, nestled in the bowels of a Soviet-era football stadium on the outskirts of the city, and finding themselves equally captivated by the surrounding energy of a city in the midst of a cultural forward charge, driven by local creators and spearheaded by electronic music culture. 

Little more than 20 years old, the Georgian electronic music scene remains a relentlessly high quality one. Subjective though the statement may be, enough music makers and lovers have concurred for this writer to feel confident in saying it’s actually hard to find bad music on the Tbilisi nightlife circuit. “We had superb first generation of producers in Georgia, and our electronic music scene was built around their taste.” Lezhava explains. “The clubs were tiny, but with top quality music, and as the scene kept developing we went from tiny clubs to huge spaces like Bassiani, but the quality of music was kept. The people in charge in Tbilisi are creative people; this is what makes our scene so good.” 

Tbilisi club culture made international headlines in 2018, when around 15,000 young Georgians gathered outside parliament to defend it and what it symbolised, as a safe space of tolerance and progressive values – a lightening quick response to aggressive raids the night before which they felt targeted not only their music but their way of life. Evocative videos raced across mainstream media and internet backchannels of techno blasting across stone structures and moving bodies, dancers holding posters in defence of love, tolerance and dancing, and the vivid red smoke of flares wafting defiantly overhead. 

To outsiders, it looked like here was an electronic music scene that knew its own value, and that could defend itself. And yet, lacking any formal support or even acknowledgment from the government, nor any organisation directed towards securing it, Georgian club culture found itself in immediate peril and without aid within weeks of last year’s national lockdown. David Lezhava, together with Naja Orashvili, owner of the aforementioned Tbilisi techno haven Bassiani, decided to act. “We knew we were in tough situation,” says Lezhava. “And that’s when the association was born.” The pair, aided by a growing number of motivated industry stakeholders, has mobilised, organised and formalised the representation and protection of Georgian electronic music and club culture through a non-government, non-profit association called the Cultural and Creative Industries Union of Georgia (CCIU Georgia).

One year since its inception, CCIU Georgia can count itself among the pandemic’s silver linings, a clear success story in advocacy, born from adversity. Beginning life in the wake of lockdown as a 60-member facebook group of concerned stakeholders, by mid April CCIU Georgia was an official organisation under the stewardship of Orashvili and Lezhava, meeting periodically in the dormant club spaces of the city to keep dialogue flowing and develop an action plan. Like countless clubs across the world, Georgia’s venues were facing bankruptcy, with no aid from the government forthcoming. “Every month or so we would get together with the representatives from the electronic music scene: djs and everybody from the field, discussing the issues. Where our goal was to advance and lobby the interests of local club culture and nighttime creative industries. These early discussions became the basis of our plan.” The most pressing need for the shuttered industry was of course money, so the association’s first official project was to establish the Tbilisi outpost of United We Stream.

United We Stream – which streams DJ sets from otherwise empty clubs and other interesting cultural spaces – launched as a fundraising service for Berlin clubs within days of Germany’s Covid-19 lockdown, and rapidly blossomed into a global phenomenon, providing an international cultural platform in the digital space through which to crowdsource funds for struggling club venues and industry workers, simultaneously raising the profile of local scenes, spaces and artists. In May of 2020 Tbilisi became the 11th city to join the UWS family, which now spans 117 cities. “We’ve broadcast 19 separate shows so far, one of which was a 15-hour marathon in January,” Lezhava states proudly, “and showcased around 100 local artists.” Just days ago Tbilisi notched up its 19th broadcast, from MTKVARZE, a techno haven within a distinctive 1950s building on the bank of Tbilisi’s Kura River, and in early April will stream to the world from Lisi Rest and Tbilisi State Academy of Arts. UWS Tbilisi has raised around 30,000 GEL for venues and artists so far.

By December of last year, despite having also raised an additional sums for club nightlife workers through private funding, the situation reached a critical point. “We were seeing clubs go bankrupt right and left,” Lezhava remembers, “and there were not enough private funds to go around. As more and more clubs went dark, we realised we needed additional help, and so we approached the government.” Why hadn’t the government been CCIU Georgia’s first port of call instead of last resort? In fact, this was not the first time the Georgian electronic music community had reached out for state aid, having previously sent a statement via letter, signed by a broad cross-section of the industry, which was never responded to. Empowered and inspired by global knowledge exchange through VibeLab’s internationally collaborative practical guide to reactivating nighttime economy and culture, the Global Nighttime Recovery Plan (GNRP), the CCIU tried again, and differently. 

“Well, on the second round, we didn’t just write a letter, we wrote the whole plan,” Lezhava says. “We approached the government via the City Hall with what we called ‘The 4 Point Plan: Electronic Music and Club Culture Recovery Fund’. It detailed how to save the electronic music scene, how to take the stress off, and help it reach the summertime when open air events could start functioning, how to design and run safe open air events, and how to help the ecosystem open, at least partially.” 

“We are particularly grateful for our participation in GNRP sessions, and for the four chapters circulated, which served as invaluable insight and experience when drawing our own package to the state.”

This time, it worked. The government took notice of the industry’s plight, took the plan on board, and sourced the funds to turn it into reality. After only a few months and several rounds of discussions, the mayor of Tbilisi announced 2million GEL had been allocated in response to CCIU’s lobbying. “Electronic music wasn’t in their plan; it wasn’t even in their heads. It was born in our heads, and we just kept going, and kept proving to [the government] why they are better off doing this for us than having a totally bankrupt nightlife scene.”

In addition to the plan, Lezhava and the CCIU team had provided the government with important context, to ensure their understanding of the scene they were trying to protect, and clearly express the precariousness of its current situation. “We painted a picture for them,” Lezhava says, “and explained how the electronic music ecosystem works so they understood us better. We mapped out who the plan would reach, outlining all the possible beneficiaries, explaining why it’s important to help DJ schools as well, for example, because that’s where the young generation is coming up through and being fed to clubs and venues.”

The City has designated CCIU Georgia to receive and distribute the grant money, at once a great responsibility and great relief to Lezhava and Orashvili, who knew they could establish a fairer and more efficient system of distribution for their own industry than the government could. “We are launching a web platform: act4culture.com. Act4Culture will accept applications and award funds across four separate programs, encompassing the entire electronic music ecosystem in Tbilisi, including clubs and pre clubs, musical bars, multifunctional music venues, festivals, event series, labels, vinyl shops, artist agencies, dj schools, electronic radio stations, and all individuals in the electronic music field.” 

Though born from the bleakest year the scene has ever suffered, the Act for Culture grant money represents a significant moment for Georgian club culture. When announcing it, Tbilisi mayor Kakha Kaladze (a former footballer with AC Milan, if the name is ringing bells) praised Tbisili club culture and acknowledged its role in raising the tourist potential of the city to new heights. “He said in his speech that he knows the scene has helped the city immensely,” recalls Lezhava, “and he wants to pay some of that respect back. Thus far, we had never had any politician, let alone the mayor, accept that electronic music is a form of art. But Kaladze declared club culture is a culture – his speech was an important moment.”

“The financial aid also represents a big hope for Tbilisi, as it will preserve numerous safe and free spaces that are so vital to the city. Such places are truly essential, where young people meet and exchange ideas and visions, jointly organize to solve common difficulties and pursue common interests. In the context of current social challenges of the country, such outposts of modern culture have an important role to play.”

Stay up to date with the work of the CCIU by following them on Facebook.

Our Features section publishes original content created by nighttime.org associates, going deeper into global COVID-19 response strategies and scene perspectives by drawing on our international network of night mayors, nightlife advocates and industry stakeholders for comment. 

If you would like to contribute, contact hello@vibe-lab.org with your pitch. 

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A Q&A with Mark van Bergen – dance music journalist, author of the seminal book on Dutch electronic music, Dutch Dance, and lecturer for Fontys University’s Dance Industry minor – on his experiences teaching students about the dance music industry, whilst that industry is stuck on pause.

Mark’s own story shows the unexpected career pathways that lead into and away from nightlife, hopefully inspiring his students to persevere with their passion despite the discouraging circumstances, and shape the future of nightlife in unpredictable ways.

Last year the Dance Industry minor students reached out to us at nighttime.org looking for work experience opportunities, eventually collaborating with our team to make this timeline of the tumultuous year for nightlife that was 2020, and the interactive map of night time offices.

What motivated you to run this course, and how did you first become involved?
 
“It all started with a passion for electronic music and parties. I entered nightlife when house music was first popping up in the south of the Netherlands, around 1990, and soon started DJing and throwing parties.
I was about to study journalism, and later on I would combine both worlds. I never thought I would ever live from the passion, but here we are!”

“I wrote a lot about dance music and culture for various newspapers and magazines, before my first book was released in 2013: ‘Dutch Dance’, celebrating 25 years of house music culture in the Netherlands. That opened a lot of doors – in fact Fontys Academy for Creative Industries came knocking at mine. Many of their students had ambitions behind the scenes in the dance industry, but the Academy had no curriculum for it. I left the newspaper world and took on the challenge to develop a minor, a dedicated semester program. I still think it’s a great opportunity to help launch the careers of these young talents, together with my team.”

This is an industry where many people tend to learn on the job, rather than seek out a course. Why do you think some formal education is especially useful in the dance music industry? 

“Funny you say so, because that’s exactly the method we use in the minor Dance Industry program. It’s challenged based – ‘learning by doing’ – in collaboration with real and relevant clients and stakeholders. We team up with Amsterdam Dance Event, which we have a long running educational partnership with, and we also collaborate with promotors, DJs and their
managers. A group of students worked on a project for your own platform. This way, they work on real and actual challenges, gain a lot of experience and grow a network in the same time.”

“Of course, we still offer knowledge and tools from books – such as mine! – and from other written sources, but practice is the leading principle. Just look at my team: none of the members is classical teachers, we all have one leg in the industry ourselves. Myself, I still run my own electronic music blog, This Is Our House, and then we have a night mayor (Siem Nozza), a headliner artist manager (Nigel Claassen, Bassjackers) and an ADE curator (Jesler Amarins) in the team, among others. We have an intimate impression of what is happening on the scene, and all have quite some network.”

Many of the events and artists your students would usually gain work experience through didn’t happen in 2020/21, due to the pandemic. Where did you look to find alternative work experience for them, and how has that worked out?

“Of course, this was a struggle. Everybody hoped to visit Amsterdam for ADE in October, for instance. Instead, 80% of the program was offered through a screen. Still, for their experience and learning process it didn’t make a great difference in the end. The minor is built around three practical cases that the students research develop and realise themselves: a conference (with ADE as our client), an event and a music release. For the release, Covid made no difference. They were still able, together with an artist of their choice, to bring an electronic music track onto the market. For the very first edition of ADE Online, our students developed and hosted a couple of panels. As for the event, well yes, they all dreamt of events with huge crowds and shows, but the situation just wasn’t possible. And yet there was a huge need for connection and alternatives. So in separate organisations they worked on 11 online or blended event concepts, most of them streams, which were all realised but one. We had to coach hard, as the motivation dropped many times, but everybody worked their asses off and were very satisfied by the end.”

Are there any changes in the way you ran the course during the pandemic that you think might be useful to maintain when normality returns?

“To be honest, I think there is a future for blended education. A mix of on- and offline sessions. Make no mistake: location sessions stay in the core, if they are allowed. Apart from the social component that youngsters really need (as do we teachers), we need face-to-face contact for coaching, especially when it comes to interactive sessions, pitches and group work, and of course for working-in-the-field. But as far as the ‘classical’ lectures are concerned, in which it is more about transferring knowledge, I think
there is nothing wrong with offering them online. A lot of students prefer them as well, they don’t have to travel and can watch back recorded lectures, if they have more important things to do. You just have to approach those online lectures differently, with shorter time slots and more interactive components for instance.”

As the next generation of industry professionals, what have your students’ own impressions been about this time, and how it may impact their future? 

“Everybody’s just fed up with it, you know. Quarantines have a massive impact on young people, especially their social lives. The last couple of years, we’ve seen mental issues coming to the forefront more and more already. This viral era will only bring more struggles, I fear. That’s also what we’ve been coaching on, doing a lot of talks on private issues.”

“As music lovers, they also miss nightlife so much. Some visited or organised raves, and we’ve seen a lot of illegal house parties at student houses as well. It’s a bad thing for the virus, but I can understand their motives at that age; I probably would have done the same at 20. I don’t think they are insecure about their professional future though, we all believe things will recover in a couple of months. And I’m glad our students can look back on last semester quite positively. Having viewed the results of the student survey we send out at the end of each semester, it turns out they have learned and experienced a lot despite the restrictions.”

2020 was a year like no other, that will have an impact on the dance music industry for a long time to come. How do you think this unique period in history will influence what you teach your students in future?

“I think that, just as in education, there is a future in nightlife for ‘blended’ events. Where you’ll have the ‘classical’ physical event on a festival site, for locals and fans willing to travel and pay the full monty for a live experience. Then on the other hand, but also increasingly merging with what’s happening on site, there will be an online edition for fans all over the world to attend as well, or watch back afterwards. The experiences and lessons we gained on streaming in the last year are huge. The world is your market, and if you are able to stay within your concept, create extra value and drop a solid production, you can definitely monazite it. I think that’s something we’re going to apply or coach on in our education. More scenario planning, by any means.”

And how do you think this year will affect the opportunities your students may have when they complete the course?

“In our curriculum we always try to adapt to what the industry wants from future professionals, and translate this into a challenging education for our students. Let them learn by success, but also by letting them fail in a safe way, so they are well prepared. We did that in the past, and we will
maintain it. And I think one of the best things that comes out of this approach is experience, flexibility and problem solving. Last year has pushed these soft and hard skills to the max. So far, we’ve seen our graduates reach great positions in the industry, and I don’t doubt that, when
everything gets back together in a healthy way, our students are ready to build the future.”

Learn more about Fontys ACI’s Minor Dance Industry (which you can also follow as an exchange student, from partner universities around the world.

Check out nighttime.org’s 2020 nightlife timeline Fontys students helped create.

Our Features section publishes exclusive original content created by nighttime.org associates, going deeper into global COVID-19 response strategies and scene perspectives by drawing on our international network of night mayors, nightlife advocates and industry stakeholders for comment. 

If you would like to contribute, contact hello@vibe-lab.org with your pitch. 

The post Teaching the nightlife business, in an era without nightlife appeared first on NIGHTTIME.ORG.

 A few months ago, it looked like rapid testing was about to explode onto the European nightlife and events scene – an additional and reassuring layer of defence which would push the industry decisively further down the path to reopening. Encouraged by the increased accuracy and affordability of the rapid antigen tests, which can turn around results of 99.68% accuracy in just fifteen minutes, op-ed articles proliferated on how this testing system could be used to simultaneously fight the virus through increased testing rates, whilst offering nightlife and events operators a chance at conducting their business safely, and dancefloor-starved punters a chance to party legally. 

Plans were laid. The Dutch government was collaborating with festival organisers, using their expertise in crowd and event management to establish rapid testing ‘streets’ in several cities across the Netherlands, and planning for a series of trial concerts to explore the efficacy of a variety of safety measures, rapid testing among them. In Barcelona, the Apolo theatre was due to host its first large scale concert, partnering with local hospital Can Ruti to use a rapid testing strategy to enable a thousand people to gather for music for the first time in months. 

In Berlin, the ever proactive nightlife advocacy body, Berlin Clubcommission, had created a detailed plan to use nightclub workers alongside several hundred volunteer medical professionals to set up and run rapid testing stations out of Berlin’s now empty club and cultural spaces. At first, to simply increase testing rates, and later with a view to reopening these spaces for their intended purpose.

As many are painfully aware, the momentum that was building came to a crashing halt as the virulent second waves sent Covid-19 case numbers skyrocketing across the northern hemisphere, with heightened restrictions and lockdowns soon following. 

The rapid testing trials were cancelled, but that doesn’t mean the conversation or the preparation should be. 

Rapid testing is the transition strategy the nightlife and events industries need to survive the inevitable lag between lifted lockdowns and a sufficiently vaccinated population. Stakeholders cannot afford to wait for the government to act on their behalf – and must instead use their expertise and available resources to show the way forward.

Recent news about the Pfizer vaccine approval and roll out is, of course, very encouraging. But it would be both naive and neglectful for it to be used as an excuse to stop the essential problem-solving process that the world’s nightlife and events industries have been engaged in all year, trying to find ways to open responsibly and financially viably whilst Covid-19 is still very much at large. No matter where you are in the world, these industries are in immediate peril, and cannot afford to simply wait until an entire population is vaccinated to reopen.

“In October, Clubcommission established a detailed plan for rapid testing stations,” says Clubcommission spokesperson and VibeLab partner Lutz Leichsenring, “so that night culture could make a significant contribution to curb the spread of infections in the young target group and relieve the burden on health authorities. Now the testing events are on hold, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep planning for them – there is much more work to do to make sure we can hit the ground running safely and efficiently as soon as restrictions allow it.”

UK event management and logistics company, Swallow Events, understands there is no time to waste. Last month the company announced that its rapid testing screening service facility is ready for hire for events in the UK and beyond. Partnering with heavyweight pharmaceutical company Roche, and in constant discussion with a leading healthcare consultancy which also advises the UK government and local authorities, Swallow Events is the first private company to make serious moves on the service which could make all the difference in reopening nightlife events. 

“It is absolutely huge what can be achieved here,” says Swallow Events partner Grego O’Halloran. “Yes, most of Western Europe is under severe lockdown restrictions, but this won’t always be the case. Going forward we believe the ability to rapid test will determine the extent to which events can return and on what scale.”

O’Halloran and Swallow Events’ founder Oli Thomas realised months ago that legislation was trailing well behind developments in pharmaceutical technology, restricting the industry’s opportunities for recovery. The pair decided to do something about the lag. “I’m shocked at just how much we’ve been forgotten about,” says Thomas.  “When an industry makes enough noise our government responds – but it’s a reactionary and not a proactive process.”

“As history tells us, the events industry is often at the back of the list when it comes to priorities,” O’Halloran adds. “So this movement has to work very much from the ground up, with promoters and venues adopting testing to show local authorities and licensing bodies that their events are safe and influencing legislation change in that way.”

This sentiment is very much shared by the Berlin Clubcomission, which is well practiced at designing its own survival strategies. “We know by now that we need a bottom-up approach when it comes to nightlife – we cannot wait for the government to act. It’s up to the industry to come up with its own solutions, manage all the details and push the nightlife agenda with government.”

Though the current situation with the pandemic is extremely precarious, bodies like Berlin Clubcommission argue these trials will help not harm the community, even as cases rise. 

“Of course we are hoping for rapid testing to enable reopening of the nightlife industry sooner,” says Leichsenring, “but that’s the long game. For now we are simply trying to become part of the solution through increased testing rates.” Unfortunately, Germany’s restrictions still prevent the Clubcommission from putting their plans into action.

One government, however, has recently approved rapid testing plans in order to get festivals running again. Last week, Swallow Events announced a partnership with Albania’s UNUM festival, which now has approval from the Albanian government to use rapid testing to go ahead in June 2021, with festival goers able to experience the event in a normal manner provided they test negative before entry. Although Singaporean government has been trialling the use of rapid testing for large scale business events throughout November, Albania is the first country in the world to approve rapid testing for social and cultural events. It’s an encouraging example of the industry pushing progress on legislation, and hopefully the first of many in the coming months.

Indeed The Netherlands is hot on its heels. Despite the cancellation of November’s events, plans are now back in motion for large-scale concert trials in January, under the name Back To Live. A new platform has been formed for the purpose: Fieldlab Events is a combination of event organisers working in collaboration with the government, scientists and other interest groups to bring about the safe return of events by spring of 2021, with rapid testing at the forefront of their safety measures. These trials are still dependent on falling case numbers in the coming months, however. 

It makes sense for cities to adapt their rapid testing plans depending on the current severity of the outbreak. In Sydney for example, where cases are low to non-existent, rapid testing could enable clubs and dance events to function in an almost normal way, making them far more financially viable than the Covid-cautious opportunities currently available, which still involve strictly limited dance floor numbers and do not make it financially beneficial for clubs or music festivals to reopen. 

At the other end of the scale, in parts of Western Europe or America, where the pandemic remains uncontrolled, rapid testing can be a way for event operators to use their skills to increase testing numbers, and begin practicing for a system which can eventually reopen the industry once restrictions allow.

In either case, it’s important that the testing process becomes normalised – in the events industry, and beyond. Testing should not be a difficult process, nor should it be feared. In most parts of the world, complete eradication of the virus is next to impossible, so learning to live with systems like this, which increase public safety whilst still allowing a sense of normal life to continue, is crucial. It must also be acceptable to acknowledge that there will always be a small element of risk in attending a large scale event whilst the virus is circulating, even at a low level. But that, with the strong safety net rapid testing can provide, it is a calculated and acceptably small risk – like so many others we take in the course of our lives. 

Rapid testing is not a perfect tool – but it is a powerful one, ready to be used in conjunction with other safety measures and adjusted to the context of the moment. It’s up to the industry to push the agenda, do the leg work, and approach governments with a plan of action ready to go. 

Although a vaccine is on the horizon, this won’t be an overnight solution,” Swallow Events’ Oli Thomas reasons. “I see testing as having a long term future for events and gatherings of all sizes.”

“Our aim is simple,” says Grego O’Halloran. “To give the events industry the best chance of getting back on its feet, as soon as possible.”

Culture is not a tap, which can be switched on and off at will. Every month that goes by without nightlife, festivals and concerts – the industry and the culture that invigorates it is weakened, sometimes irreversibly. Money and hope runs out, businesses fold, talents find other outlets, and – perhaps most corrosively – habits change. Rapid testing is the best chance the industry has to survive the time between lockdowns and vaccinations. We can’t afford to ignore it.   

Our Features section publishes original content created by nighttime.org associates, going deeper into global COVID-19 response strategies and scene perspectives by drawing on our international network of night mayors, nightlife advocates and industry stakeholders for comment. 

If you would like to contribute, contact hello@vibe-lab.org with your pitch. 

The post Rapid testing: The bridge between lockdowns and vaccinations appeared first on NIGHTTIME.ORG.

From lockouts through to lockdowns, Sydney’s nightlife industry has been through the wringer these past six years. Jordan Rahlia charts how nightlife advocacy has played a crucial role over this time in transforming state government attitudes and actions towards nightlife, highlighting why – pandemic notwithstanding – 2020 has held clear signs of success.

It may not feel like it yet but – somewhere amidst the shock and shutdowns and general turmoil of 2020 – Sydney is proving itself to be a success story in the power of sustained nightlife advocacy. 

It would be insulting to the thousands of nightlife industry workers and business owners facing unemployment or closure to consider this a time for celebration. Obviously, all is not well. Due to the global pandemic, the music and hospitality industries are barely keeping their noses above water, adjacent industries like taxis or late night retail are suffering from lack of foot traffic, the clubbing and festival sectors are effectively frozen and financially free-falling and eight months into the pandemic almost none of the Federal Government’s Arts sector support package has been spent. 

This grim context makes it all the more important for Sydney-siders to appreciate that a decisive battle has been won on the wearied front of Sydney nightlife, where the industry has been in retreat since 2014 when the state government introduced the infamous Lockout Laws (which included heavy restrictions on alcohol consumption and movement between venues) in an attempt to curb violence after dark.

It was six years coming, but change is here. In January of this year the Lockout Laws were quietly rolled back. Nine months and one global pandemic later, The New South Wales State Government’s 24 Hour Economy Strategy for Sydney has arrived, ushering in an era of possibility for Sydney’s nightlife sector. 

Created in consultation with several of Sydney’s local councils and bodies like the Night Time Industries Association, the Restaurant and Catering Industry Association, the Live Music Office, Keep Sydney Open and Theatre Network NSW, The Strategy outlines plans for a holistic night offering, including greater diversity of experiences available after dark, increased cultural activations, and relaxation of approval processes for outdoor licenses, live music and late-opening. It promotes improved transport options, increased infrastructure and lighting after dark, and more protections for existing music venues against noise complaints. Its plans are not limited to the city centre either, with a “neon grid” proposed which will highlight, protect and link various nightlife hubs around greater Sydney. 

“After years of limiting the nightlife conversation to incidents of alcohol-fuelled violence, in 2020 the NSW State Government has drastically and publicly changed tack, recognising the nighttime economy as something worth promoting and protecting.”

After years of limiting the nightlife conversation to incidents of alcohol-fuelled violence, in 2020 the NSW State Government has drastically and publicly changed tack, recognising the nighttime economy as something worth promoting and protecting. 

It will make all the difference. Though local councils like City of Sydney have been allies to nightlife for decades, as Libby Harris, City of Sydney’s Nighttime Economy Manager, puts it – when it comes to meaningful action the State Government “holds a lot of the key levers that we need pulled to enable a better operating environment for nightlife.”

The machinery is in motion; propelled into fast-forward on its new nightlife approach by the economic pressures of the pandemic, in the last few weeks the government has already committed 15 million in funding to enable City of Sydney’s plans to transform the city centre into a “24 hour alfresco city” this summer. Meanwhile, the state government-supported Great Southern Nights initiative will see 1000 Covid-safe concerts across the state in the month of November, attempting to re-invigorate a live music industry that has been silenced since March. 

“There are a lot of people in government now that are on board,” explains Libby Harris. “They understand what needs to happen and are very supportive. I know there’s a lot of fatigue in the industry, but there really is light at the end of the tunnel.”

So how did we get here?

Changing the narrative

For years Sydney’s nightlife advocates have laboured to broaden the conversation beyond issues of drug and alcohol abuse. Cultural activist group (and later political party) Keep Sydney Open came in swinging in the early years of lockout laws, with large-scale protest events fuelled by an emotional argument on the intrinsic cultural value of nightlife. KSO’s campaign quickly matured to include extensive economic research, and draw on international examples to show alternatives to increasing safety after dark that didn’t require draconian restrictions and heavy policing. “It wasn’t just a matter of a couple of street rallies,” recalls KSO’s chief spokesperson Tyson Koh. “We had people with mathematics PHDs look into government reports and do economic modelling, we read nighttime management plans from global cities and folded that into our shopping list of policies and requests.”

Simultaneously, Libby Harris and the team at City of Sydney worked relentlessly within government, also attempting to reframe nightlife discussions, “towards what we want to see more of: more culture, more creativity and more diversity after dark”.

It took a while to be heard. In 2017, NSW’s incoming Premier Gladys Berejiklian was asked for the first time in a radio interview to describe her position on the Lockout Laws. Her response in praise of the laws argued that, “Mums and Dads in the suburbs are worried about what their young kids are doing when they’re having a good time… [Lockout Laws] send the message that it’s not OK to have a culture where it’s cool to get drunk and hit people,” – both insulting and infantilising the overwhelmingly non-violent people of all age groups who work and participate in nightlife culture. 

“A lot of the language that the government now uses can all be found in the very first submission that Keep Sydney Open made into the Lockouts inquiry.

Three years on, the Berejiklian government’s 24hr Strategy uses rhetoric and promotes policies that nightlife advocates have been preaching since the start. As Tyson Koh says, “A lot of the language that the government now uses can all be found in the very first submission that Keep Sydney Open made into the Lockouts inquiry. From phrases like ‘night time economy’ and ‘vibrancy’, to equating people going out with employment and livelihoods in connective industries such as taxi, retail and restaurant businesses.” 

The vindication The Strategy provides is explicit and complete; it even dedicates a chapter to “changing the narrative” of Sydney nightlife. “Prior to Covid-19,” it reads, “Sydney’s predominant narrative was still focused on licence laws and policing night-time activity, particularly with regards to alcohol-related activity… The conversation must be widened to take on a more forward-thinking and holistic view of the city’s nightlife”. Well, yeah. 

Unity and self-organising

So why is the government listening now? At least part of the answer is that the industry is beginning to speak with a more united voice. 

In 2016, when the (then) Night Mayor of Amsterdam Mirik Milan visited Sydney for the Electronic Music Conference (EMC), he arrived to an industry in despair and disarray, struggling to cope with the hostile conditions the government had created for nightlife operators and punters alike. His most important message: get united, and get organised. “There were so many different voices, and all with their own interests,” Libby Harris recalls of that time. “It diluted their strength as far as being able to advocate for change.” 

The following year Milan returned, partnering with EMC founder Jane Slingo to form Global Cities After Dark conference (GCAD), which sought to strengthen global knowledge and networks in the field of nightlife advocacy, and narrow the gap between culture makers and policy makers. GCAD brought some of Sydney nightlife’s key stakeholders and cultural drivers together in a room with members of the state government, to converse and collaborate for the first time. Then, in 2018, City of Sydney convened the Creative Sector and Nightlife Advisory Panel, dedicated to enhancing dialogue between the industry and government on nightlife issues. The industry was uniting – and the government began to listen.

The pandemic of 2020 has galvanised that unity. Emily Collins, managing director of MusicNSW and member of the City of Sydney Nightlife and Creative Sector Advisory Panel, has felt the change. “As devastating as the impacts of Covid have been on the music industry as a whole, we’ve seen several different industries and avenues of people who were competitors working together to convey to government the extent of the impact of the pandemic on their businesses, and express the need for support.” 

“It’s part of the maturation of any industry: the capacity to look beyond competition and to prioritise collaboration.”

Particularly important in that process has been the swift and ongoing collection of data through surveys. When gatherings of over 500 people were banned in March, the I Lost My Gig survey was launched within 18 hours. 24 hours later the survey had recorded 25 million dollars in lost income due to cancelled events, and by May, that figure was 340 million. “That survey had a really big impact on the creative industry’s ability to articulate its needs,” says Collins, who has spent most of her year orchestrating subsequent surveys and seeking case studies in order to keep the government informed. “Being able to put figures on these things is just so powerful – it helps organisations like mine to tell the story of what’s going on in the sector.”

Collins cites the recently launched Save our Stages campaign as another strong example of the industry marshalling itself. “The campaign is supported by more than 60 venues, who are essentially all competitors who have joined forces to plead to the government for support. It’s been fascinating and rewarding to see industries coming together and working on a shared vision for what the state can be. It’s part of the maturation of any industry: the capacity to look beyond competition and to prioritise collaboration.”

Tenacity, time and timing 

The persistence of Sydney’s nightlife advocates would mean little without an inescapable and essential ingredient: time. In 2018, Sydney Morning Herald reported 176 venues had closed since the Lockout Laws were introduced. The following year a Deloitte Access Economics Report estimated the laws had cost Sydney around $16 billion in lost revenue. By the end of 2019 no one in Sydney could plausibly deny that Sydney’s nighttime economy was embarrassingly underperforming. “The effects over the years were palpable,” Tyson Koh remarks.  “And the people who were complaining about Sydney’s lack of vibrancy crossed political and generational lines.” 

The timing feels cruel, but at least the pandemic has arrived when the government is ready to listen. The unpredictability of 2020 has also given industry organisations unprecedented access to government ears. “There has been much more discussion and dialogue [with the government] due to the fast changing nature of things,” explains Emily Collins. “We are getting a regular audience when previously we wouldn’t have had such luck.”

It’s also becoming apparent that the nightlife industry’s recovery is intrinsic to the city’s wider economic recovery, as the government looks for ways to safely increase inner city foot traffic and spending. Indeed many strategies to bolster the industry in the long term can also be leveraged to aid it in the context of COVID-19 restrictions, as outlined in multiple chapters of the Global Nighttime Recovery Plan (GNRP) – an internationally collaborative guide hosted on nighttime.org, to aid cities in safely reopening and strengthening their nighttime offering during and post-COVID. 

“It’s becoming apparent that the nightlife industry’s recovery is intrinsic to the city’s wider economic recovery, as the government looks for ways to safely increase inner city foot traffic and spending.”

Reducing barriers to venues gaining pavement licenses and late-opening licenses, for example, is crucial to maintaining physical distancing, using both spatial and temporal advantages of the city to increase capacity and profit margins for hospitality industries, whilst encouraging people back into the city centre to support adjacent businesses too. At City of Sydney, things are now moving at “100 miles an hour” towards these goals, says Libby Harris in preparation for Sydney’s first pandemic summer. Indeed the GNRP’s third chapter features Sydney as “an encouraging example” and “now at the forefront of global 24-hour city visioning, planning, data and impact evaluation”.

Meanwhile, the government is in the process of hiring for a full time position tasked with liaising between state government, local government and private industry stakeholders to ensure its 24 Hour Strategy doesn’t simply collect dust on a shelf. At long last, Sydney is effectively getting its own night mayor, though the successful applicant won’t have the evocative title of “Night Mayor” or “Night Czar” conferred on similar positions in cities like Amsterdam, New York or London. Instead, Sydney will soon salute a “Coordinator General of the 24 Hour Economy Strategy”. Catchy. 

Healing Sydney’s “identity crisis”

The future of Sydney nightlife now rests in our well sanitised hands. We owe it to the business owners frantically pivoting their way towards new revenue streams, new licenses and new entertainment ideas to get off the couch and experience Sydney’s nightlife in this strange new context. We owe it to the business owners elbow deep in grant and support applications, who cannot open at all right now, to prove there is and will be an appetite for their offering once restrictions are relaxed. And we owe it to ourselves to enjoy some good news and good times when they come to us. 

When asked about their hopes for next year, City of Sydney’s Libby Harris, Keep Sydney Open’s Tyson Koh and Music NSW’s Emily Collins all shared a similar vision. 

“If all we talk about is booze and violence, that’s all we’re ever going to get,” says Harris. “I hope people will look at our vision for a more cultural and creative city at night and say, ‘yeah – we want that!’”

“No one needs more convincing that Sydney’s vibrancy can bounce back than Sydneysiders themselves,”

“This is a city that too often talks itself down as somewhere that isn’t about culture and nightlife,” says Collins. “But what we have seen recently is that Sydney does actually show up for the Arts – there is a strong community sentiment about supporting these things. Sydney needs to get past its identity crisis, and Covid is an opportunity for a mindset shift. We live in an incredible city and I’d love its narrative to be more about the great things it has to offer than about the things that it doesn’t.”

“No one needs more convincing that Sydney’s vibrancy can bounce back than Sydneysiders themselves,” Koh echoes. “But whether it does or not is completely up to us. Up to us to go out, attend events, go to restaurants. It’s up to us to start businesses if we have a sound plan or an idea to rejuvenate much-loved precincts. And the government has a responsibility to enact the strategy that they devised; there’s a mutual obligation to make sure that the nighttime economy doesn’t fall by the wayside.”

Many challenges for the industry are still to come but, thanks to the sustained and increasingly well organised efforts of nightlife advocates across the industry, the community and local councils, the New South Wales State Government has, finally, come to the party on nightlife. So will you?

Update – In the weeks following this article’s release, the Liquor Amendment (24 Hour Economy) Bill passed through New South Wales State Parliament’s lower house, overhauling more than 600 pieces of antiquated legislation relating to liquor licensing, development consents and live music restrictions, in what is being described as a “monumental change” in favour of nightlife venues and performance industries.

Our Features section publishes exclusive original content created by nighttime.org associates, going deeper into global COVID-19 response strategies and scene perspectives by drawing on our international network of night mayors, nightlife advocates and industry stakeholders for comment. 

If you would like to contribute, contact hello@vibe-lab.org with your pitch. 

The post The first battle for Sydney nightlife has been won appeared first on NIGHTTIME.ORG.

“Outreach is more important than ever” A discussion of one of the key themes of the recently released Global Nighttime Recovery Plan, featuring comment from NYC night mayor Ariel Palitz, Orlando Nighttime Economy Manager Dominique Greco and Vilnius Night Alliance’s Mark Adam Harold.

Of all the human truths laid bare by the pandemic of 2020, one is of particular comfort: the instinct to socialise is universal. And, despite early speculation to the contrary, that instinct has not been doused by fear of infection or acclimatisation to the lockdown couch. 

The past few months have shown that coming together to socialise – be it dining, drinking or dancing – is more valuable than ever in maintaining a sense of community and coping with the collective trauma the pandemic has laden on us all. Be it the ill-prepared illegal field raves of the UK, where the only thing kept at a distance was the concept of physical distancing itself, the understandable but unregulated sidewalk socials that sprung up in New York after take-away alcohol was introduced, or the well-meaning yet infamously off-putting chair raving experiment of Amsterdam, nightlife culture is willing itself back into existence, one way or another. This alone would make the safe, structured and legal reopening of the nighttime economy a goal urgently worth pursuing, even before considering the now – finally – widely reported fact that nightlife in any global city is a huge industry, the shutdown of which has left gaping holes in national economies, and millions out of work indefinitely. 

Nightlife as we knew it is off the cards, for now. Its close-quartered, spontaneous, contact-riddled nature creates perfect conditions for spreading COVID-19, as explained by health experts; as proven by club and bar related outbreaks in Tokyo, Seoul and Berlin, to name some high profile examples. However, as proposed by the creators of VibeLab’s recently released Global Nighttime Recovery Plan, there is a way forward. Though timelines may vary, all cities will eventually have opportunities to reboot their social economies and provide safe, accountable alternatives to unsafe illegal events. Livelihoods, lifestyles and lives are at stake. 

Based on health advice, industry expertise and the example of several pioneering cities, the first chapter of the Global Nighttime Recovery Plan (GNRP) focuses on use of outdoor space as the safest and most obvious context for reopening, exploring ways to manage both sound and cities’ finite available space, to create open-air nightlife that is both safe and feasible in the context of COVID-19. But, as noted by the chapter’s lead author, Mark Adam Harold of the Vilnius Night Alliance, the study highlighted an adjacent issue that must be addressed effectively if the nightlife economy is to reopen safely, outdoors, or indeed in any other capacity…

Effective communication and mediation within the community is key to recovery, and in most cities, needs work. 

The rapid and fluctuating nature of COVID-19’s spread through populations has made the communication and enforcement of government policy a difficult task; in the nightlife industry it has particular significance. Given the high-risk nature of nightlife as we were used to experiencing it, combined with industry’s need, historically, to constantly defend its right to exist, the community’s awareness, understanding and adoption of nightlife’s new and changing realities in their area will make or break the local industry’s fragile path to recovery. 

“Keep the communication constant and consistent” the GNRP advises, citing an example in Orlando, Florida, where disregard of this necessity eroded trust in local authorities, and reduced compliance. “On June 26, Florida state announced a second shutdown of bars with a single tweet from its Department of Business and Professional Regulation, giving no warning to lower levels of government. This led to chaos as local authorities scrambled to disseminate the news and answer questions they had no answers to, damaging their reputation in the eyes of the public.” The GNRP’s Mark Adam Harold recalls that inconsistency in enforcement of restrictions in Vilnius had the same result. “We had big problems with different enforcement agencies applying the rules inconsistently, in some cases selectively, or simply misunderstanding the rules. And this caused a lot of mistrust within the public. Because people stopped listening to the rules and trusting those giving advice, the system broke down.” In such instances, it is often  venue operators who shoulder most of the blame and the repercussions. 

In many ways it’s the kind of challenge the nightlife industry is used to. Community outreach and compliance with restrictions has always been essential to such businesses’ survival. But the stakes are higher now, and the responsibility cannot fall to venues alone. 

“Good visuals and simple campaigns are very helpful.” states the GNRP, using New York City as a valuable example of the kind of support local governments can provide operators in conveying the new realities of attending their venue. “We have done multiple campaigns to help [venues] communicate with their neighbours and patrons about rules and guidelines,” says Ariel Palitz, Senior Executive Director of New York City’s Office of Nightlife, or more colloquially, NYC’s night mayor. In the early months of New York’s lockdown, hospitality venues were permitted to provide delivery and take-away alcohol services, their only source of revenue during lockdown. However, this concept led to impromptu and unregulated sidewalk socialising, so the NYC nightlife office stepped in to help. “New York has never had takeout and delivery [of alcohol] before Covid, and it was tempting for patrons to gather on the street,” Palitz explains. “So we had to do a campaign to get the message across. We provided window posters, saying, ‘Take Out, Don’t Hang Out.’ Helping to communicate we really could not have people hanging out in front of businesses. Sometimes it just boils down to a poster, simple tools like that. So the venues can point to the poster and say: ‘it’s not us, it’s the government, you can purchase your drinks but you can’t stay here.”

As circumstances in New York improved, and al fresco drinking and dining became possible, the NYC Office of Nightlife’s messaging kept pace. “Now that we have the outdoor seating allowances we have a new campaign,” says Paltiz. ‘It’s up to you, New York.’ Socialise responsibly, take care of yourself, look after each other, care about the neighbourhood.” The campaign, which seeks to shift all of the onus for non-compliance from falling on bars and restaurants and share it amongst the community, was particularly crucial following the executive order from New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo in June, which declared venues liable for the actions of their customers on their property and within 30 metres of it, patrons’ non-compliance potentially resulting in an on-the-spot loss of liquor license. With bars and restaurants’ resources already stretched to the limits in adapting to new conditions, let alone enforcing them, it’s a potentially prohibitive level of responsibility to place on businesses seeking to reopen. “Instead of saying it’s completely up to the bars to take care of and enforce everything,” says Palitz, “the campaign communicates that it’s up to you, New York – it’s up to all of us to do that.” 

“Encourage responsible behaviour, self-policing, and continued caution” – Global Nighttime Recovery Plan

Instilling a sense of personal responsibility in nightlife participants has for a long time been an important tenet of nightlife advocacy, touted as a more effective preemptive policy alternative to reactionary prohibition and punishment. Enjoying nightlife responsibly in the midst of a pandemic is not merely about adhering to health guidelines. As the GNRP notes, with increased demand for outdoor space comes increased likelihood of friction with local residents, noise pollution being the most common grievance. 

In Paris, where outdoor licenses have also been relaxed for hospitality venues, an already existing campaign has become more valuable than ever. Entre les Pierrots de la Nuit, a Parisian NGO which for a decade now has supported nightlife businesses in developing neighbourhood-friendly practices, and engaged in community outreach on issues such as noise – with particular performative flair. The city-funded Pierrots de la Nuit use a two-pronged approach, captivating the public with a creative performance – mime, for example – and piquing their curiosity, followed by a friendly mediator, who explains the approach, the issues of noise and its impact on local inhabitants, and the repercussions of their complaints for the venues. 

Usually, the Pierrots will target around 300 of Paris’s most problematic venues for noise, but now they are spread too thinly. Since emerging from lockdown, bars and restaurants have been allowed to extend, or create, their own outdoor environments, using carparks and pavement space, resulting in 5000 added terraces in the city. For many, the ambience of the city is much improved, but noise pollution is undoubtedly on the up, with a 20% increase in complaints since the previous year. Tension between local inhabitants and hospitality venues is growing, but the resources simply aren’t there to ensure the rules – and neighbours – are being respected.

Channeling funding and creative energy into projects like the Pierrots is clearly more important than ever, providing a way to communicate guidelines and mediate social situations by introducing an actor who is neither police nor venue operator. In some cities there is an opportunity to repurpose existing roles of this kind to aid in reopening during the pandemic, like Amsterdam’s ‘square hosts’ for example, who in livelier times roamed the city’s busy Rembrandtplein providing assistance and de-escalating fractious situations after dark, and could now be used as ready-trained manpower to convey and encourage compliance with the new normal of the night experience.

In Orlando, Florida, a similar community-assistance role has become invaluable during the pandemic, diversifying from tourism and resident liaison to now provide a channel for communicating and enabling safety regulations and collecting feedback from street level.  Dominique Greco, Orlando’s Nighttime Economy Manager and contributor to the GNRP, describes the Downtown Orlando Ambassador Program as “arguably the most flexible program in the city!” 

“Without ever predicting that a global pandemic would be our 2020 reality, the ambassador program feels as though it was built for the challenge,” says Greco. “Our ambassadors are around-the-clock, seven days a week, informed professionals that can pivot quickly. In addition to their ‘standard’ duties such as engaging with people experiencing homelessness about available resources, observing and reporting statistics, offering assistance to residents, businesses, visitors, and so much more – they have now begun disinfecting popular touch-points, and even distributed 250,000 face masks to almost every storefront business in our downtown in less than three days.”

Greco intends that these ambassadors will eventually be able to aid in the return of the social economy as well. “Hopefully, ambassadors will play a role in the safe reopening of our hospitality and nightlife industry by making visitors feel comfortable when they start to return. They also serve as the most around-the-clock eyes and ears in our downtown, sharing information and issues to the appropriate authorities.” When Orlando is ready to re-trial a reopening of its nightlife economy, its ambassadors will not only supply consistency of real-time data, they can provide that all-important buffer between the community and enforcement agencies, at a time when use of police for enforcement is particularly fraught in America.

Back in NYC, Ariel Palitz’s team is already exploring new forms of mediation with the recently launched MEND NYC program, which seeks to “help New York City and its nightlife community find common ground and thrive together, again.” Palitz explains the program, already piloted and now made official with the support of NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio, as “a program to provide free mediation between neighbours and bar owners. If you have a problem with the bar or restaurant downstairs, instead of first calling the police or the community boards or the council, you can call our office and we can provide free mediation, to heal the relationship, create direct communication and compromise, and get it out of the enforcement process if possible.”

As city nightlife culture redefines itself, and increasingly spreads into the public space, communication and mediation will be the key to the community’s compliance, harmony and safety. Responsibility for this cannot fall to venues alone, nor should it be immediately referred to enforcement authorities. As the Global Nighttime Recovery Plan concludes:

“We need genuine local government by the people, for the people.”

“The pressure caused by the pandemic has shown that city authorities need to be close to their populations, to communicate clearly with their residents, to win the trust of their business communities and to encourage genuine partnership and cooperation between all interest groups. Cities that learn to do this well will be at a significant advantage as we recover from this crisis, and they will be more than ready to deal with the next.”

Our Features section publishes exclusive original content created by nighttime.org associates, going deeper into global COVID-19 response strategies and scene perspectives by drawing on our international network of night mayors, nightlife advocates and industry stakeholders for comment. 

If you would like to contribute, contact hello@vibe-lab.org with your pitch. 

The post Why communication and mediation will be key in recovering nightlife appeared first on NIGHTTIME.ORG.

Published on 12 May 2020 by Philip Kolvin QC and Alicia Scholer

Abridged by Jordan Rahlia

In an article first published in May, Philip Kolvin QC and Alicia Scholer presented a detailed and alarmingly grave analysis of the precarious position global nightlife industries find themselves in, what circumstances created this and the drastic re-thinking required to ensure the future of these industries. 

One month later, the article’s projections of the impact and recovery of COVID-19 have already proven prophetic, with many short-term predictions already becoming a reality as countries push to reopen their economies.

We encourage you to read the full article, originally published on The Institute Of Licensing site. It is about a twenty-minute read, so for those pressed for time, we’ve created a heavily abridged version with excerpts and commentary below. 

“What we have been, or now are, we shall not be tomorrow.” – Covid-19 Metamorphoses.

Summary

“In this article we consider the long-term impact of Covid-19 on the future of the social economy. We argue that current discourse concerning the transition from lockdown to gradual re-opening is necessary, but will be insufficient to save this important cultural and economic sector. The leisure sector was already undergoing rapid change in response to recent socio-economic trends. The coronavirus has served to catalyse those trends. The determinants of future success of the social economy will go well beyond short term fiscal fixes. Rather, there will need to be far-reaching changes at town planning, regulatory and industry level.”

What’s in a name?

The authors begin by explaining why they use the term ‘social economy’, and why the nomenclature matters.

‘Social economy’ avoids the stigma surrounding the phrase ‘night economy’, which has “become synonymous with negative externalities such as binge drinking and disorder.” It also recognises that, “many leisure venues trade all the way through the day and into the night and that it is futile and unhelpful to categorise them as day-time or night-venues.” Finally, there is an argument for going further by replacing the term ‘economy’ with ‘ecology’, recognising that “not all of what we value at night has to do with money.”

“Language must be chosen which reflects both the social and economic value of life at night, and does not induce a gag reflex in listeners, be they policy-makers or local communities.” 

“The social economy needs to be seen as an asset you do something for, not a problem you do something about.”

Trends

In this section the authors list and discuss the challenges –  which were cumulative, in many instances exponential and in some cases overwhelming – which have threatened the social economy of cities across the world for the past two decades.

1. A decrease in high street retail, due to a) the rise of online retail, avoiding urban centre rent and rates, and b) the tendency for the younger generation to prefer experience over material assets.
2. A reduced interest in alcohol, for so long a mainstay of the social economy, as the younger generation rebels against their parents’ drinking habits. 
3. A large growth in home entertainment, due to factors like the rise of streaming and delivery services, the possibility of finding a partner online, banning of smoking, and so on. 
4. Gentrification, resulting in noise complaints which lead to regulatory clampdown, and higher rents for venues which rarely trade on high margins.
5. Austerity, which negatively affects the amount spent in the leisure economy, with people not only going out less, but consuming – or pre-loading – before they do.

“The overall effect has been to produce significant and ultimately unsustainable income reductions in many types of venues, with drinking establishments, nightclubs, music venues and retail establishments hit particularly hard. In days gone by, pubs might have competed with other pubs for custom. Now they compete with everything, including online commerce. Even before the advent of the virus, none of these trends looked remotely likely to be reversed.

“Just as Covid-19 is more likely to prove fatal to individuals with underlying health conditions, it is also more likely to cause permanent damage to those towns and cities which have failed to build resilience into their social economies.”

“This long-coming and accelerating crisis on the high street has not generally been met with a thorough or effective policy response. In some cases, the reaction of the government has been to encourage change to residential units. This builds the balance sheets of investors and landlords but serves simply to accelerate the demise of the social economy, for “no entertainment venue lost to housing will ever be returned to its former use, while the allure of the centre is reduced and the pressure from residents and regulators on the venues which remain is increased.”

Fightback

In this section the authors acknowledge the growing movement in recent years for the social economy to unite and defend itself against the challenges raised above, resulting in some institutional recognition of the role the social economy plays in improving the livability and desirability of cities, and appreciation of the social economy’s symbiotic links to the creative sectors.

This change of thinking “has been reflected in the inclusion of culture and cultural assets in city planning and regeneration policies, and the promotion of culture-based regeneration of urban centres.”

The authors highlight new policy ideas which have emerged, such as the Agent of Change principle, and the rapid growth of the role of Night Mayor, as the clearest manifestation of this recent trend, with posts filled in over 50 cities worldwide and growing since the first Night Mayor (Mirik Milan, cofounder of this blog) was introduced in Amsterdam in 2012.

“All the while, creative entrepreneurs have set about forging a new, diverse social economy. So we have seen the rise of ‘competitive socialising’ (escape rooms, e-gaming bars, hi-tech table tennis, bowling, darts, mini-golf, paintballing and the like), chameleon bars, immersive theatre appealing to a new generation of theatre-goers, premiumising, elision of the concepts of bars and restaurants, the creation of instagrammable settings and pop-ups in secret and surprising locations. All of this might loosely be termed the ‘experiential economy’.”

“The conceptual division between pubs and restaurants is fast disappearing and policy-makers who use it as a basis for their regulation are fighting a battle that has long since evaporated.” 

“In summary, social economies around the world were poised between inexorable decline and a creative-led revival. Into this scene, enter Covid-19.

Microbial presence, global impact

The scene now set, the authors begin discussing the impact of COVID-19 on the social economy, by detailing some of the immense financial and cultural losses already suffered, and emphasising that bail-outs during the lockdown period will not be enough to avoid long-term devastation, and in some cases collapse, of cities’ social economies. 

“What is clear is that every government will have taken on mountains of debt which our children and probably theirs may be paying off for the rest of their lives. The bandwidth for social regeneration will be limited, and businesses and individuals will emerge from the lockdown much the poorer. These are the stark facts with which it is our societal duty to grapple as we plan ahead.”

“It will not be enough for governments to work out how to get out of lockdown. That is equivalent to moving the patient from intensive care back to the wards without considering their rehabilitation or how they will fend for themselves outside.”

Structural challenges

“Despite governmental proclamations, we simply do not know when or even if there will be a vaccine for Covid-19. Until that time, there will be social distancing, or rather, the preferred term of the World Health Organisation, “physical distancing.”

The authors go on to describe how the necessary changes to operation for most venues post-lockdown create a climate which will make it extremely difficult to turn a profit.

“Physical distancing is anathema to the leisure industry” 

“…which relies on the animated vibe generated by proximity, and economically toxic for those venues which depend for their viability on a few packed hours on weekend nights.”

“If the government prescribes far-reaching mitigation measures such as waiters in masks, Perspex screens between tables and the rest of it, or employers do so voluntarily to protect their staff from illness and themselves from legal action, a further cohort of potential customers will decide that going out is not worth the candle and gather at home instead. Moreover, some percentage of customers will have become habituated to receiving their entertainment online as well as welcoming the cost savings associated with a night in.”

“All things being equal, the social economy cannot return to its former levels, let alone exceed them, at least prior to a widespread programme of vaccination…”

The authors also ask us to think beyond this pandemic, into the next, and the one after: 

“Will entrepreneurs want to sink their savings into long city-centre leases at premium rents when all the fruits of their labour, courage and creativity can be wiped out, at a stroke, by another microbe whose cousins the government failed to plan for or adequately control?”

The foundations for recovery

The authors suggest four principal factors that will form the basis of a return to a thriving social economy:

1. The necessity of In Real Life (IRL) social experiences for the human condition, the corollary of this being that the venues, experiences and overall ecology of the social economy “needs to be recognised by policy-makers as a social good.”
   
2. The social economy should not just be seen as something which needs to be regulated by the government, but promoted sustainably instead. 

“There has been a tendency for the public sector to leave the development of the leisure economy to the market, and then to step in and regulate it, as though it were an unruly beast to be tamed…”

“We have sufficiently sophisticated tools now to do better than rely on reactive regulatory measures as the policy instrument of choice. There is ample experience from around the world of what works and channels of learning and communication to disseminate best practice.”

3. The ability to trade profitably over more hours and/or a larger footprint, in order to earn more money from a relatively poorer post-pandemic population.
   
4. The development of “a public infrastructure that facilitates our ability to visit the social economy safely, efficiently and cost-effectively, not eventually, but now.”

Recovery

Here is described the conditions upon which businesses are allowed to re-open, in order to be “weaned off the drip-feed of government support,” an incremental process during which human density is reduced by law.

“There will need to be controls on entrance and exit to avoid over-capacity. Visits may be time-limited.”

“In some jurisdictions, customers will carry proof of their good health i.e. an ‘immunity passport’. In others, their temperature will be taken at the door.” 

“Care will need to be taken with objective entry procedures and civil rights monitors to ensure entry to highly coveted social districts and venues are not restricted to persons based on race, ethnicity or other demographics.”

“Staff will be in masks and gloves. Menus will be shorter to reduce kitchen interaction and the progressive march of mechanisation in restaurant kitchens will be stepped up. Sanitiser stations will be prominently located. Payment will be cashless and contactless. Surfaces will be disinfected frequently, entrances and exits may have to be segregated, and extra staff will be needed for sanitation and security duties…”

But of course, all of these mitigation measures cost money. If the government pushes the entirety of this bill across the table to venue operators, closures will follow.

“However well-intentioned the public sector’s approach to recovery, it is in the end a numbers game in which income is down and costs are up.”

Restore

And now for some detailed solutions. The authors emphasise the need for an entirely “new paradigm” in order for the social economy to survive and even prosper long-term. There are ten aspects to this…

“First, leisure venues will need to expand their operation in terms of time and space.”

“Venues are much less likely to survive if their efforts are directed at attracting a pre-loaded twenty-something crowd in large numbers on two nights a week. That is a largely defunct model. Rather, the early evening should be promoted afresh as a time for socialising.”

“Many venues will also need the opportunity to spread out onto tables on the sidewalk, where it is potentially easier to maintain physical distancing and customers will feel more confident since they are in the open air.”

“The proliferation in street-use by leisure venues will need to be the subject of legislation so as to streamline the attainment of planning and licensing approvals subject to hours which prevent undue conflict with local residents…The hours of outside uses will be controlled by public authorities according to local circumstances.”

“Second, the enforcement of distancing on public transport will cause an increase in car use, cycling and walking. In many towns and city centres, this will not work.

“Sidewalks will be needed for leisure use, and more space, not less, will be needed by pedestrians. This can only be achieved by reducing car use in such centres.”

“In the experience of the authors, every significant centre which has banned the use of cars, whether entirely or at particular times of day, benefits from an uptick in environmental quality, sociability, and user enjoyment. In due time, the allocation of  80% of the public space between building lines to motor vehicles will come to be seen as a foolish historical aberration.”

Third, the social economy does not depend only on bars and restaurants. 

“We need to see a renewed emphasis on the public realm, with a premium on safety, accessibility and environmental quality.”

“A busy street is a safe street, but the feeling of safety is demonstrably augmented by street ambassadors. The scandalous loss of WCs will be reversed, and every civilised urban centre will provide plentiful opportunity for free water. Street-scenes will be greened, pocket parks and micro-rest spaces will be installed, while town squares will benefit from free leisure activities such as play equipment, or just games such as table tennis and chess, benefiting children (who are so often forgotten in debates about the social economy) and adults alike. Heritage buildings, bridges and arches will be artfully lit. Where the public weal cannot afford improvements, corporate sponsorship will fund the gap. The buzz of a great public realm is itself a magnetic attractor of users, some portion of which will visit and help fund leisure venues.”

“It is no pleasure at all to visit a venue via a semi-comatose street. The public and private realms are symbiotic, and good local administrations recognise this and provide for it.”

“Fourth, it will be necessary to break down rigid policy structures. In a world in which young people are drinking less, it is largely unnecessary for policies to presume against any sale of alcohol. What about a glass of champagne before the opera, a cocktail while visiting a museum, a glass of wine while shopping at a high-end clothing store, a beer after working out at the gym, or a glass of champagne while at a nail salon or beauty parlour? The contexts for drinking occasions are so multi-various that a monolithic policy is liable to frustrate operations which should be encouraged.”

“Nor are policies which presume in favour of restaurants only when they are sit-down affairs with full table meals brought by uniformed staff appropriate in a modern environment. The writers of such policies have failed to notice therevolution in eating out, including the astonishing rise of high quality street food, tapas, small plate restaurants, cocktail bars with food and a myriad of formats which do not depend on white tablecloths and silver service.”

“Instead of asking whether a proposal ticks a preordained box, the simple question should be whether it does any harm and, if it does, how this can be mitigated without disproportionate restraints.”

“Fifth, local government bodies should reflect the public’s aspiration for their social economy in a vision, and then set about achieving the vision through positive planning, encouragement of investment, social marketing and public realm improvements.”

“Local authorities should keep track of their social inventory and, in some cases, might purchase assets to achieve their vision.If high rents mean that music venues are in short supply, local authorities could purchase former car parks, stores or railway arches and  convert them into rough and ready venues, protecting the use forever… The vision of a Sociable City should be developed and promoted with the assistance of Night Mayors and through social messaging and marketing.

“Sixth, it is inevitable that a portion of the population will prefer not to travel into town and city centres for work or entertainment. So authorities should seek to furnish communities with all they need within 15 minutes of their home, by way of retail, services, parks and leisure. [This notion] not only seeks to reduce the need to travel, but can also help to ensure that money earned locally stays local.”

“Seventh, measures will be needed to protect tenants of leisure venues and also to protect venues from a wholesale conversion to residential uses.”

“Town and city centre rents have risen beyond the means of many small businesses. In many cases, rents agreed in different market conditions will become unsustainable in the post-Covid era. Sensible landlords will adjust rentals downwards to preserve the tenancy. In other cases, the government should look at legislation to permit tribunals to refix rental levels in the light of these changed circumstances. 

“The costs and consequences of this virus should not fall on tenants alone.”

“Eighth, the response of the insurance industry to claims on business interruption policies is widely viewed as unconscionable. Policy-holders have paid premiums for years if not decades, only to discover that, through recourse to convoluted exegesis of obscure policy wording, insurers are able to deny liability with impunity.”

“Government, insurers and the leisure industry will need to agree on standard wording so that it is perfectly clear in the future whether businesses are covered against future pandemics, since Covid-19 is the latest but won’t be the last. Without effective insurance, the incentive to invest will no longer be there.”

“Ninth, the industry can provide an alternative to home entertainment, but it cannot wage war against it.”

“Streaming initiatives such as United We Stream in Manchester, or the broadcast of plays by the National Theatre in London have demonstrated how you can actually widen your customer base by taking advantage of new media, rather than railing against it. Pubs and restaurants will need to ramp up their home service, so as to provide an effective dual income stream.”

“Tenth, sad to say, there will be centres which will no longer be fertile soil for the growth of the social economy. Some have lost so much retail, or developed so much housing in its stead, that it is hard to see the rebuilding of a critical mass of leisure venues in the current climate. Centres which are over-reliant on big offices will suffer in the post-Covid era, since large businesses will be less keen on gathering all of their employees in one place. Strips of takeaway premises built to service such centres will themselves struggle to survive. In these cases, public authorities may well consider that they need to adapt their centres and promote alternative uses such as community hubs, artists’ workshops, markets, music venues and co-operative ventures.”

Conclusion

“For the social economy, the gradual lifting of lockdown globally is not the beginning of the end, or even the end of the beginning. For the leisure venues which are integral to our social economy, it is a new beginning entirely. They will enter the new era saddled with debt in a society impoverished by the gargantuan public expenditure required to keep society afloat and seriously depleted fiscal revenues, and with their principal customer base—the young—hit hardest of all.”

“Any suggestion that the social economy will bounce back due to a release of pent up demand is magical thinking. Once lockdown is over, venues will confront a world in which customers are fewer, spend is lower and costs are higher. This will put a large percentage of operators under, and the danger is that once gone they will never be replaced.”

“In this article, we have argued that: 

“The social economy is a public good and is a marker of an effective, culturally-engaged human settlement. As such, it is imperative that all actors in that economy—both public and private—collaborate to re-imagine the social economy for the post-Covid era.”

“It is possible to envision a modern social economy set in a green, car-free environment, with animated street-scenes, an interesting and lively public realm, a more diverse offer and clientele, spread over a longer trading day. None of that thinking is new, but the impact of the virus has promoted it from a nice-to-have to a must-do.In this way too, the virus is an accelerant. Without such thinking, we anticipate that the weakest centres will enter spirals of decline. The time for action is now.”

“The story of this crisis is that we failed to spend billions on urban resilience and are now paying the price in trillions. The failure of proactivity was reflected in the cost of reactivity. It is hoped that in planning the future social economy, we do not make the same mistake again.”

Philip Kolvin QC is a licensing barrister, practising at Cornerstone Barristers in London, a Patron of the Institute of Licensing and an Associate Fellow at Westminster University’s Centre for Law, Society and Popular Culture.

Alicia Scholer is the Vice President of the Responsible Hospitality Institute

The post Covid-19 and the future of the social economy appeared first on NIGHTTIME.ORG.

Learn more about Mimi Tempestt and Will J.

For queer people in nightlife, coming together means way more than bodies in a room, whether we can spread them six feet apart or not. Our culture is where we conduct business, connect with our chosen families, utilize our energies and create community. Historically, queer nightlife has been a social and cultural safe haven for many walks of life, enabling queer communities to continue fighting battles of past and present. Our community is more than a place for underground subcultures to perform within, it is where countless bodies connect, seek solace, and attain peace—together. Read the first and second here.

COVID-19 has changed the world, leaving behind many ways of thinking and connecting. As we all move into new modes of survival, we fixate on where LGBTQ+ individuals can find safety and expression in the foreseeable future. Queer community has always been resilient and inventive, even against impossible odds, but with so much uncertainty, how will we create sustainability? We want to believe in supporting subculture and creating new spaces, but with what means of accessibility? Has the event horizon of a post-COVID queer society even reached our minds? 

“I think a lot of small independent businesses won’t survive this crisis, so there will be less choice in venues. Government support will be vital to keep some sort of queer nightlife alive after this is over.” – Jennifer Hopeless, Drag Performer, Club Church, Amsterdam

The present climate speaks to us, but the rest is still unwritten. Our future as queer folx depends on our ability to create opportunity, even through hardships. Although European countries and the United States are mounting different responses to the COVID-19 crisis, there is an underlying understanding that many clubs and institutions important to our queer nightlife communities will not be able to weather this storm. 

Anne Rodermond, one of Club Church’s current managers, noted the possible “ripple” effects of this crisis: “I am very concerned that there is likely to be an economic downturn—one [that] will cut back on many cultural expressions.” 

Looking toward the months to come, Rodermond asks cities worldwide to consider not just the recovery of the most mainstream or visible culture, but their subcultures as well: 

“Give them places to be creative, to experiment and create. Give safe spaces. Do not deny the subculture – there are so many who were already on the right track but [have] now lost their podium.”  

Kae Burke, co-owner of Brooklyn nightclub, branding entity, and queer collective House of Yes reflected on the heavy financial impact to their business as employment has dwindled from 20 full-time employees, 100 part-time employees, and a roster of 200-300 performance artists to now only three employees. 

When asked about how much money House of Yes has lost as a result of COVID-19, Burke wasn’t shy to express these frustrations. “Honestly, it’s definitely in the hundreds of thousands. Depending on how long this goes, it can go into the millions.” Last April, within the federal stimulus package, Congress passed a relief fund for businesses to request a loan through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). As a business reliant on physical interaction, House of Yes worries about the sustainability of short-term financial support from programs like PPP.

 “(The PPP loan) is only covered from the day we accept [the loan] to two months. But…the night clubs aren’t opening anytime soon – not in two months. They may not be open for a year. How the f**k are we supposed to hire a bunch of people for a venue that’s not operating?” 

Burke also notes that for many, this is a time of increased struggles with mental health and substance abuse in the community, and encouraged those in the nightlife community to consider their safety and well-being first.

“People’s mental health is really fragile right now, and important. I think we should check in on each other, and check in on yourself. Just know that this is actual trauma, and it should be treated like trauma. And there are resources available to people, and it’s okay to ask for help. Your problems and feelings are valid. For those people in the community, mental health expresses itself in many ways. Watch out for substance abuse, that is really scary stuff.”

International performer and Brooklyn drag performance staple Merrie Cherry echoes Burke’s concern on the ongoing closures, and noted that despite the challenges, there shouldn’t be any expectations to return to venues any time soon. “I want to stress the point that it’s so important for nightlife people to not rush to get back to work. I understand that people are broke. I understand that some people may not be able to get unemployment or even the stimulus check. Use your brain. Try and figure out something to supplement your income.” Cherry’s words reflect the still-intensifying financial difficulties: rent freezes, reductions, or other assistance programs remain scarce, and now, months into this crisis, many state or city eviction moratoriums are beginning to expire, putting individuals and businesses at even greater risk.

All around the country, the responses to COVID-19 vary based on access to resources and individual perspectives. Trans woman DJ and party promoter, Ariel Zetina, notes how many parties and DJs have shifted into virtual spaces. She spoke to how this quick transition shows the adaptability and resilience of queer folx. 

“I think what’s really beautiful is a lot of young queer DJs started digitally. This has been easier for me, personally, to adapt to because even though I do not have home access to CDJs, the equipment that you find at a regular club, I’ve been able to do a lot of work from my laptop. I’ve been able to adjust.”

Speaking from New Orleans, Kahelelani Mahone, a.k.a. Heavy Pleasure, DJ and community activist, highlighted their community’s BIPOC (Black and Indigenous People of Color) creating mutual aid in response to the virus, and securing essentials and resources for those in need. Kahelelani’s future-oriented opinion on where we go next emphasised the consistent need for more accessible spaces for all types of queer bodies and mindsets.

“My number one hope for the future in nightlife is that we really look at how deeply inaccessible parties have been, and make some major changes. For one, all these parties that have been streaming have been so inspiring. This is just one way we could continue to include and engage [members of] our community, that for so many reasons can’t come to the club, after isolation is over. There’s clearly so much more work to be done, within ourselves and our party spaces, but something I hope we commit to.” 

The creation of online spaces for our younger queer generations to start their journeys of self-discovery is essential, as is the need to feel mentally stimulated and engaged during this time of isolation. Access to mental health resources and safer spaces is crucial in order to unpack the world around us, and the club environment creates space for that pursuit, even in digital form. It may even prove beneficial to continue these digital dancefloors as additional or alternative gathering spaces, inclusive to queer folks regardless of barriers to access like geographical distance, ability to be publicly out, physical or health limitations.

When we prioritize the sustainability of our culture, we facilitate an opportunity for us and future queer generations to understand and cultivate the resilence necessary for our survival, to learn the organizing methods that keep our voices heard and actions aligned toward liberation—and simply to see how far we’ve come in LGBTQIA+ history. 

In this series, we have explored the varying methods and levels of sustainability that queer people around the world must enact to exist. From the activism of Miss Barbie-Q in Los Angeles, to the outspokenness of Negra Conda in Mexico, the intellectual discernment and performance art of Merrie Cherry in New York, and the determined spirit of countless others worldwide, how we grapple with this time of COVID-19 (and in the face of other racial, gender, and economic hardships) will impact how we will exist in the future. 

As we go into PRIDE month, more than ever it is time for all of us to consider and continue to create the communities that we envision for ourselves. Queer community is resilient and innovative in how we build our legacy around the world, and that will be – has to be – true as we face COVID-19. We leave you to consider and take action in solidarity as we learn from each other in different cities and countries to more effectively respond to the complexities of the pandemic and this moment. Like always, we are in this together. 

We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who participated in this three-part editorial series. Below are the names of people who shared their hearts and concerns with us from cities around the world. 

Los Angeles

YourMuther @yourmuther

Rudy Bleu @queerpunkdisco

Daphne Von Rey @ethicaldrvgs

Miss Barbie – Q @missbarbieqla

William Johnson Jr. @willyouarenot

Joaquin Gutierrez @og_goro

Mimi Tempestt @thegoddessmimi

New York

Bapari @bapari_

Merrie Cherry @merrie_cherry

Boston Chery @bostonchery

Kae Burke @kaeburke

Mexico (Tijuana and Guadalara, Jalisco)

Negra Conda @negraconda

La Coloreatada @lacoloreatada

Chicago

Ariel Zetina @arielzetina

New Orleans 

Heavy Pleasure @heavy_pleasure

Amsterdam 

Anne Roderman @clubchurch

Jennifer Hopelezz @jenniferhopelezz

Paris

Julien La Brien Sherman @helpmensafeoutofmasculinity

There is more work to be done. But we are actively moving through this time of COVID-19 with hope in our hearts, reaching out to keep our communities together. In that spirit, please share your stories and experiences! They are all valid and so vital for other queer people—and anyone in nightlife—amidst these chaotic times. All of our participants shared their experiences with their own narratives, viewable in full here. We are continuing to gather experiences to keep this project going, searching for queer nightlife individuals who play active roles in their areas’ communities.

Please reach out via queers.in.covid@gmail.com.

Mimi Tempestt, Los Angeles native based in Oakland, CA, scholar, creative artist, and queer community activist. @thegoddessmimi

Will Johnson, Los Angeles native, DJ/event coordinator, Los Angeles Nightlife Alliance (LANA) @willyouarenot

The post Sustainability as survival: Queer Nightlife and Covid-19 (Part III) appeared first on NIGHTTIME.ORG.

Learn more about Joaquin Gutierrez and Mimi Tempestt.

For queer people in nightlife, coming together means way more than bodies in a room, whether we can spread them six feet apart or not. Our culture is where we conduct business, connect with our chosen families, utilize our energies and create community. Historically, queer nightlife has been a social and cultural safe haven for many walks of life, enabling queer communities to continue fighting battles of past and present. Our community is more than a place for underground subcultures to perform within, it is where countless bodies connect, seek solace, and attain peace—together. 

This is the second article of our queer nightlife series. Read the first here.

Joaquin Gutierrez, is a Los Angeles-based Community Sexual Health Organizer and LGBTQIA+ Event Coordinator. He believes Mexican queer/trans/non-binary nightlife culture is vibrant, resilient, hard-working and innovative. The stories of this community must be shared as a form of resistance to the oppressive factors that Mexican culture implicates on us as Queer beings.

Back in March, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico severely downplayed the unforeseen impact COVID-19 on the country and its residents. Although criticism against the president forced local government officials to take their own precautions, mandating proper  quarantine restrictions has been a concern for citizens as the number of cases steadily rise.

Self-proclaimed “Tijuana Royalty”, party promoter La Coloreteada, spoke honestly about Mexico’s response to the virus and its effect on their community. 

“Unfortunately due to the heavy corruption that plagues Mexico, not every bar initially had to comply with the shutdown. Those that have associations with local police were allowed to remain open on March 21 and hosted parties. This is where I found out about the first death in the Tijuana nightlife community due to COVID-19. One of the bartenders from those bars that remained open died from the virus.”

The encouragement by Mexico’s president for citizens to carry on as usual, and early failure to implement restrictions in Mexico, has led to the creation of underground parties that sees nightlife communities intertwining regardless of gender and sexual orientation.

 “Youth, ages 18-23, threw underground parties. These parties that see queer and hetero nightlife come together are hosted by Los Chicos ‘it’ el modelito, la bonita. These are young people that have money, privilege and access. For so many queer partygoers, this becomes the only answer as to where to party, even if it means sacrificing some of the safety that comes with attending queer-specific spaces. For the time being, I foresee underground parties and raves becoming more and more popular.” 

The underground parties are more intimate, but are often shut down by local police. Quite frequent until a month ago, they have gradually slowed down as COVID-19 cases rise throughout Mexico.

Despite the police shutting down underground parties, La Coloreteada expressed possibilities during the pandemic for their community to expand notions of queerness and connectivity. A new queer collective in Tijuana called The Color Kidz consists of artists and performers from Tijuana and San Diego put together by La Coloreteada, with goals to promote safety in their queer community. Currently, The Color Kidz collective focuses on establishing safety guidelines such as providing masks and creating hand sanitizer for partygoers in future events. 

Queer nightlife around the world upholds safety and health standards, utilizing harm reduction strategies to keep patrons safe. From STI prevention to COVID-19, The Color Kidz’ mission reflects the internal frameworks that are essential within all queer communities. “Mask for Mask”, their next party concept,  plans to enforce all COVID-19 safety and health guidelines from across the globe. Starting in April with digital parties, they are actively planning steps to continue outside of current climates. 

From Tijuana to Guadalajara, Jalisco, the future of the queer community in Mexico calls to question what steps for survival are necessary, leaving people in different socio-economic and social levels of the community scrambling to do what’s best for themselves. 

Negra Conda is a trans woman, drag queen and visual artist from Guadalajara, Jalisco, MX. Prior to actual shut downs, she showed up to a party with a protective mask and was made fun of for taking health precautions. After finding out that all her events were cancelled, she began using the money she has saved for her breast augmentation surgery to survive. 

“Because I’m an entertainer, my livelihood depends on me actually entertaining. All my life is involved in entertainment and nightlife. Like a dog trainer has a place to train dogs, I don’t have a space where I can do what I normally do. I don’t have anything. I don’t have a mirror, I don’t have the lights. I’m super limited. I’m using the money from my surgery to pay for hard costs and day to day expenses.” 

Although she had money set aside for her surgery, she reflects on the reality that others may be really suffering in these circumstances. Joking to her friends: “From now on, I’m going to have money put away for my surgeries and money put away for a global crisis!” 

Through the laughter, she pinpoints how this crisis has left her feeling a little isolated from her community in other areas of Mexico, who have made different decisions in order to survive; choosing sex work in the height of the crisis:

“If there was a pyramid of people like me [trans women], I would be at the bottom. I’m not a sex worker. I don’t sell my body, and because of that I can’t work. Some of my friends, they can serve clients and make money, but I cannot because I don’t do that kind of work.” 

In the future, to support her community and to supplement her livelihood, she imagines more business-like interactions that will ensure proper compensation and visibility for trans women and drag performers.

“I do things from the heart, and sometimes people don’t return the favor. I want contracts. If I do something or help somebody, you will have to do something in return for me in equal value.”

Negra Conda speaks to all of our feelings, and all of our concerns. We wish to live in a world that doesn’t push our needs to the wayside. 

There is more work to be done. But we are actively moving through this time of COVID-19 with hope in our hearts, reaching out to keep our communities together. In that spirit, please share your stories and experiences! They are all valid and so vital for other queer people—and anyone in nightlife—amidst these chaotic times. All of our participants shared their experiences with their own narratives, viewable in full here. We are continuing to gather experiences to keep this project going, searching for queer nightlife individuals who play active roles in their areas’ communities.

Please reach out via queers.in.covid@gmail.com.

Joaquin Gutierrez is a Los Angeles-based Community Sexual Health Organizer and LGBTQIA+ Event Coordinator, who conducted and translated Spanish-language interviews.

Mimi Tempestt, Los Angeles native based in Oakland, CA, scholar, creative artist, and queer community activist.

The post Moving with resilience: Queer Nightlife and Covid-19 (Part II) appeared first on NIGHTTIME.ORG.