These have been troubling times for brands across the spectrum, but events producers have been under a special kind of hurt during the COVID-19 lockdowns—and once quarantines end, the future looks bleak, or, rather weird, at best. Insomniac has done a commendable job shifting to digital programming in recent months, though they haven’t been able to avoid the worst parts of economic hardship, resulting in furloughing 50 percent of the company’s staff recently, totaling nearly 100 employees.
In a statement to Billboard, Insomniac’s CEO Pasquale Rotella explains,
“Like many other companies in our industry impacted by COVID-19, Insomniac made the difficult but necessary decision to furlough certain employees while we are unable to produce our shows.”
“It is our full intention to bring those team members back on board once events are allowed to occur again, and the business is in a position to support the additional staff.”
Furloughed employees will also continue to receive medical benefits while on leave, according to Rotella. While certain Insomniac festival properties and club events have been cancelled outright, a number of events still remain booked, while flagship festival EDC Las Vegas has been rescheduled for later this year, lending hope to the idea that Insomniac may bounce back with a full staff before year’s end.
Featured image: Keiki Lani Knudsen