Berlin Club Commission plans 1000 person test event

The Berlin Club Commission has unveiled a six point plan towards reopening the city’s venues, including pilot test events with rapid testing and a central information hub sharing hygiene recommendations and regulations.

The plan also requires venues to record the number of visitors attending, and guideline help will be provided the implementation of smart apps, shared research projects and an information campaign in the city

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The first test event will take place tomorrow, March 20, with 1000 guests allowed inside the Berliner Philharmonie concert hall.

Attendees are required to produce a negative COVID-19 test from an authorised test centre on the day of the event, which are free of charge. Health and safety requirements such as ventilation and designated seating will be complied with.

On March 27, the Club Commission and Holzmarkt will hold a test event at Säälchen (pictured), with the same testing, social distancing and mask-wearing rules applying. A ticket and rapid COVID test will cost €20.

In a statement, Holzmarkt wrote: “First of all, it must be honestly said: the little hall is not a club and a concert with chairs 1 m away is not a dancefloor. We are in a newly built culture hall with state-of-the-art ventilation and 9 m high ceilings. This is only a benchmark for clubs to a very limited extent, which is what it takes to convert existing rooms or to improvise rooms. It is certainly not a benchmark for a club night if you ultimately cannot move freely and barely feel each other. Hopefully, what we can show here is that there are concepts that prevent club interiors from having to go completely idle."

The results of the trial will be reviewed in April.

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Pamela Schobeß, the chairman of the club commission, called the pilot project "a small but important step to be able to create a perspective for the entire industry again after one year".

Berlin culture minister Klaus Lederer said in a statement last week: “This kind of pilot is unique in Germany – and will hopefully contribute to being able to visit cultural events without fear, as soon as possible.”

The plan towards reopening will be welcomed by the city’s famous club scene, with no indoor legal parties hosted in Berlin since the pandemic forced Germany into lockdown in March 2020.

With help from state and federal government emergency aid programmes and appeals for donations and loans, none of the Berlin Club Commissions’ 300 member venues has closed down.

[Via: Berliner Zeitung]

Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Digital Features Editor, follow him on Twitter

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