As part of the 'Night of Light' campaign, more than 5,000 companies from the event industry are joining forces to illuminate many buildings in Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland in red light to draw attention to the dramatic situation in the event industry. The action will take place on 22 June from 10 pm. In Hamburg, PRG will illuminate the TV tower and, together with the operator and staff, the Barclay Card Arena in red.
The aim of the action is to bring our industry into the focus of politics in order to get effective government support. Because: despite the announced "bazooka" and the two clever rescue packages of the federal government, the adopted measures are simply not reaching many companies. Our industry is in danger of running out of "light". We expect many insolvencies if politicians do not act quickly and decisively.
With the exception of short-time work support, the measures adopted are only partially effective. Many companies have problems obtaining KFW loans. Despite the state guarantees, the banks find it difficult to take risks. "We don't know when major events will take place again. In the case of a second wave, it could be as late as 2022". Many companies have heard such sentences from their banks. In some cases, enormous securities are demanded that have nothing to do with the 20% or 10% default guarantees that were announced politically.
We are pleased about the one-time support (max. 150,000 € over 3 months) for small and medium-sized enterprises, of which there are many in our sector. After all, these measures help directly and secure their liquidity. However, for the larger companies - like us - there is currently no support at all, even though a large number of freelancers and small companies work for us. Time is also playing against us, as we do not expect a significant recovery in our industry until the second half of 2021. Many companies will not be able to get through this lean period. The big bang will come when short-time work ends at the latest. Then the wave of insolvencies will roll and many jobs will be at risk.

Through 'Night of Light' we want to achieve that there is an industry dialogue between leading companies and politics. This is necessary because the industry - unlike the automotive industry, for example - does not have a strong, bundled political lobby/interest group. Admittedly, the event and trade fair industry is one of the largest sectors of the German economy, has more than 1 million direct employees and should have a corresponding "weight". Since the industry is very fragmented, smaller branches of the industry are not even noticed and/or do not have strong interest groups.

We hope that this large-scale campaign will bring us into the focus of political decision-makers and, as the largest global company and leading company in our sector in Germany, we are ready for an open and constructive dialogue. In this context, it is important to discuss what effective financial support could look like. However, part of the agenda must also be to make politicians responsible for finally creating reliable framework conditions under which events can take place again. It is a matter of creating the ability to plan - and not simply saying "major events will not take place for the foreseeable future or will remain prohibited at least until 31 October". Without planning certainty and clear guidelines on the conditions under which major events can be approved and held, there is massive uncertainty. And uncertainty is a nasty poison for any business. Ludwig Erhardt once said "business is 50% psychology"! We think that this is exactly where politics can help.
The situation of the event industry:
The events industry was one of the first industries to be hit by the COVID 19 crisis, and it is also very likely to suffer the longest and most profound effects. This affects, in effect, all companies operating in this sector - including us in the event technology sector. 

Info on PRG:
Production Resource Group AG (PRG), Germany, is a leading full-service provider for the event industry and works for agencies, companies, event organisers and TV stations, for example. PRG's services range from support in event conception, planning, implementation and technical equipment to the follow-up of all kinds of events. PRG's equipment pool in the field of event technology is the largest in the world. In Germany, PRG operates locations in Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Munich and has been active in the market for more than 35 years. In Germany, PRG employs more than 350 qualified staff from various areas of the event industry and 50 trainees. In addition, PRG has a permanent staff of over 500 freelancers. Internationally, the Production Resource Group is represented by 72 branches worldwide.

Typically, PRG supplies technical equipment for events such as the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics and the European Football Championship, concert tours by Udo Lindenberg, Helene Fischer and Peter Maffay, international artists and bands such as U2, Bon Jovi and Post Malone, and also trade fairs/conferences such as OMR (Online Marketing Rockstars), for SAP and Telekom and many other events. These were cancelled or put on hold overnight in the wake of the Corona crisis.