With the COVID-19 pandemic putting a stop to events and large gatherings, the events industry has been starved of business. (Photo Courtesy: Headlight Kohima)
Vishü Rita Krocha
Kohima | July 17
The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown has literally brought the events industry to a standstill. It has been close to four months since marriages, concerts, shows, seminars, church activities, any occasion that calls for a celebration or social gatherings of any kind have not taken place. This also means that the livelihood of those in the events industry has been harshly affected even as event professionals take one day at a time and anticipate for normal activities to resume.
“Events industry is one of the biggest employment sectors for the youth in Nagaland and if this collapses, the employment of majority of our youth will be hampered,” Kevitsu Doze of Synergy Group Enterprise says. He hopes that things will turn around soon, especially in Nagaland, stating that wedding or event planners, catering, rental business etc are reeling under the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown.
“We have fulltime employees whose salaries we are continuing to pay, our store and godown maintenance, and rents to cover,” despite not being able to generate any income during the last couple of months, Doze highlights.
“The rest of the businesses are gradually opening up with lockdown relaxations, but I don’t know when the government will give us an SOP (Standard operating procedure). Without guidelines, we cannot go ahead,” Thejakielie Zuyie of LifePro Sound Solutions expresses.
When it comes to events, he points out that “it involves a lot of vendors starting from a singer, musician, generator vendor, catering, tent making, also chair and table rental companies, photographer, videographer, etc. It involves a lot of business and logistics.”
“It’s not just us but everyone in the industry has been affected. We are still paying our house rents, employees’ salaries, we cannot just discontinue the service of our staff,” he explains. Normally, LifePro would be engaged in weddings, birthdays, concerts, anniversaries, small pop up events, corporate launching programmes, seminars, conferences, church crusades, and other organizational events throughout the year. However, with none of these events happening at the moment, Zuyie hopes that by August, they can start doing events again.
‘Unrecognized industry’
“Ours is a very unrecognized industry in terms of how the government views us,” Atsunglir Jamir, Proprietor of Audio Garage, Dimapur says while pointing to the many packages being rolled out for farmers and businesses by the Government of India. “But we don’t figure into that line and sadly, so far, no package has been announced for us”, he states.
“Our line of business is something, which, if social distancing is enforced our business cannot be run,” he says, adding that, “people employed by certain business owners like us, we also have that added burden of having to pay the rent, and our employees’ salaries.”
“Just because times are bad, we can’t let them go,” he asserts. The only event he has done this year was in the early part of 2020. “It was a free event but for a good cause,” he adds.
On the positive side of the lockdown, “since we are barely home given the kind of work we do, the plus side is that our family is happy, something is getting done- cleaning the compound or finishing work which has been pending for a long time,” he shares.
While framing policies, it is also the hope of Kevitsu Doze that the government looks into the entertainment industry, and make policies for them as well. “When we talk about industry, the government only focuses on handloom and handicraft,” he says while reiterating that a major chunk of the youth in Nagaland is gaining employment in this sector.
‘Instead of income, it has become expenditure’
Avikuo Tepa, who started “Headlight” in Kohima five years ago with just basic equipment has been upgrading it every year. “Last year, we did a major upgrade of the equipment on loan and right now, it’s a headache”, he states.
“It’s not easy running a godown, we have to pay rents, and find other means to cover for those. Instead of income, it has become expenditure,” he expresses while highlighting that about 3-4 pre-booked shows got cancelled because of the lockdown.
Headlight has consistently worked on upgrading their equipment and not having foreseen the pandemic, he shares, “we are tremendously suffering because of the recent investment on lighting equipment, since there is no possibility of doing anything at the moment.” Had it been a normal year, Headlight would have been lighting up weddings, concerts, fashion shows, book releases, events, and not just necessarily show business but also church events, music videos etc.
With every probable event on hold, Avikuo Tepa, who is also an artist, has been indulging in art related work during this period of lockdown. “The only possible way to engage Headlight for now would probably be a music video”, he shares.
