Now that the Dutch government has decided, because of the Corona Virus, to ban all events with more than 100 people until 31 March 2020, it means that the CGN season will unfortunately end abruptly because this decision hits the contest in Leeuwarden (14 March), the CGN Championships (March 28) and the CGN Day of Percussion (March 29). As CGN Board, we realize that this is a huge anticlimax for our participating groups who have been working towards that grand final performance at the CGN Championships for months. But not only for the groups, but also for audiences and fans, our volunteers, judges and we as Board members, this feels like a huge anticlimax, while at the same time we fully support the measures that have been announced by the Dutch government. Our priority is, and always has been the health and well-being of all those involved with our organization.
Immediately after the decision, the CGN Board met to discuss all the consequences that this government decision has on us. It was very clear that the events could not go ahead but there are far more consequences for us as an organization. CGN invests more than 90% of its income directly to the organization of the CGN events and everything directly related to it. Such as awards, the hall rentals, costs for flying in jurors etc. Of course, as Board members we also discussed a possible postponing the CGN Championships. After a long meeting, the CGN Board decided not to move the CGN Championships.
If we move the CGN Championships we think it should take place within 4 weeks of the original date, otherwise this would affect the summer season too much and also groups will not be able to hold their members for longer than this period to perform. The hall in Eindhoven is not available within this time frame. The alternative would be the hall in Almere. Although this hall is available on 25 April, we decided not to do this. One reason is because this date is within a holiday period for many Dutch scholars and also too close to King's Day (national Dutch holiday) and therefore a problem could arise for many groups getting their members together and given the preparations and the performances that will undoubtedly be there that Saturday. Moreover, the big uncertainty is whether the Coronavirus will be under control by the end of April or not. The assessment made by the CGN Board is that it is very likely that this will not be the case by the end of April. This leaves a feeling of giving you false hope and just postponing an inevitable decision.
So all of this above has led to the difficult decision that we will end the CGN season 2020 immediately.
At this moment in time we cannot oversee all of the consequences. One is that we decided that for the first time in CGN History we will not announce season’s champions. Our season is not like soccer where you earn points during the season and ultimately have a ranking in the case of a break in the season. Our activity is so exciting because the ranking in most classes can change up to and including the last performance. In certain classes this may not be the case, but we have chosen a consistent line and that is that no champions will be named for the 2020 season.
You can imagine that we as CGN are doing our utmost to get a clear picture all of the consequences. A huge part is formed by all the financial commitments we have made for the rest of the season. Halls have been rented, Items have been ordered and paid for, adjudicators have been contracted, there are commitments to sponsors etc. At this moment we have no idea how the various parties with which we have made agreements will react to this situation. We will be in contact with all these parties in the coming days to see if there are any costs we can stop, whether orders can be cancelled and we get our money back; all actions are aimed at having a clear picture of the negative financial consequences as quickly as possible. It is clear to us that this will have a significant impact on us as organization because, as mentioned earlier, we are fully investing 90% of our revenue back in the 90% part of the activity that is financed by ticket sales and registration costs of the groups.
We fully understand that people and groups are inquiring about refunds for ordered tickets and registration fees. This needs to be sorted out by the CGN Board and we cannot answer on these subjects yet. We ask everyone to be patient in obtaining answers to all questions regarding the consequences of the measures announced by the Dutch Government. Once again, we fully support these measures and will now have to identify all the consequences that it has for CGN as an organization. We estimate that this will take the two coming weeks and we thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.
Kind Regards,
On behalf of the CGN Kernteam
Paul Doop
Chairman
