Glastonbury’s Emily Eavis denies festival could go bankrupt after 2021 cancellation

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Glastonbury organisers have denied that the festival could go bankrupt.

After announcing another forced fallow year for Glastonbury amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, festival co-organiser Emily Eavis spoke with The Guardian about the future of Glastonbury, denying that the annual Somerset pilgrimage will go bankrupt.

Speaking in the interview Eavis denied the bankruptcy claims, explaining that due to cancelling the event so far in advance, the losses incurred in 2020 would be avoided this year. “We would have been in trouble if we’d hedged our bets and pushed on regardless to March and then had to cancel. We’d have spent a lot of money by then, money which we wouldn’t get back,” she said. 

Eavis added that alongside her father, festival co-founder Michael Eavis, she has been working on Glastonbury-related projects for this year. “A lot of big artists have been in touch offering to perform for us at the farm, so we’re doing everything we can to make that happen. We would love to build a show that can be watched at home by people all over the world, and of course it would be a useful way for us to make some very welcome income.”

Michael Eavis had previously told The Guardian that the festival could go bankrupt if the 2021 edition did not take place.

Glastonbury has been among the most vocal forces calling for UK government support with coronavirus insurance to help protect against cancellations and postponements this summer. As of Tuesday 5th January, the UK has gone back into a national lockdown which will run until mid-February at the earliest in a bid to curb surging COVID-19 infections. Elsewhere, in New Zealand tens of thousands have been attending festivals as life continues to return to something like normality, with new cases of the virus now numbering less than 80 across the country.