Interview with Klaas Slootweg, organiser of the Hillegoms Muziekfeest (Music Festival)

We spoke to Klaas Slootweg, organiser of the Hillegoms Muziekfeest, about his event, the COVID period and his experience with event insurance.

Tell us about the event, what kind of event is it?

The Hillegoms Muziekfeest is a village festival in Hillegom, with Dutch-language music. It has been taking place since the year 2000 in a park in the middle of Hillegom, with big trees around it that are beautifully lit. It has a very distinctive atmosphere. And it really is a village festival. You have to look at it this way, it is an event that attracts around 5,000 people. The first 500 people at the front look at the stage, and the rest don't give a damn who is singing. It really is a celebration of familiarity, with a beer and more beer and more beer.

How did it start?

We started in 2000, and it was mainly a choir event then. Various choirs would perform at that time, such as a shanty choir and a ladies' choir. We liked that, but in the end it wasn't quite the right thing. There were maybe a few hundred people there. After a few years, we then decided to make it a real Dutch-language festival. And we had almost all of the big stars, with the exception of Guus Meeuwis or Marco Borsato. It was called the 'Smartlappenfestival' then. We professionalised it more and more over the years, and we are still doing so now.

Is it a paid event?

Yes, it's an event that costs a hefty €180,000, so you can't foot that bill with sponsorship. It did start as a free event. And then we brought in €5 admission tickets, and these have become more and more expensive. Everything has become so terribly expensive. We have much higher costs, for example for security, and also for insurance.

Are there any other things you are running into?

Of course, you have to stay compliant with regulations, and they are not getting any easier. The demands are only increasing. You have to deal with many different parties, such as the police, fire brigade, first aid, the municipality, the environmental service. And of course there are huge staff shortages in the police and in the fire service. So you have to upgrade your group of security guards, because the police can just say "we don't have time to come". That doesn't make things easy.

And sometimes they do get unnecessarily difficult. For example, we had a small clerical error in the permit application once. It should have said we were doing "selective bag checking", but unfortunately it said "selective race checking". And someone from the municipality who really didn't think that was acceptable spoke out about it. Which was obvious to us, as well!

How did you get through the COVID period?

In 2020, we just got started as usual. We had done quite a bit of preparation until, of course, we heard in March that it could not go ahead. And then, fortunately, we were able to claim on our insurance through you. And this is not a reproach, but I got the impression in the conversation that we were insured against all costs, that we had a full-cover insurance policy, but then some costs were not covered after all, because - and this is also my fault - I neglected to read all the small print. But all in all, I am definitely not dissatisfied.

And yes pandemics are now completely excluded. Don't ask me whether I'm happy about that! I always say, if a plane crashes onto the park we are insured, but if a pandemic breaks out, we are not. Explain the difference to me.

Things like planes crashing are exceptional events. Because they only happen occasionally, insurers can take on that risk. But if because of a pandemic everything comes to a standstill, pretty much everyone is damaged. And insurers can't afford that.

Yes I understand that too, no one ever expected such a thing to happen.

Anyway, in 2020, we then started preparing for 2021. We had fortunately agreed with the management of the line-up that, if there is any external emergency that we have no control over, we will postpone the festival until the following year. And that all worked out. But yes, you incur extra costs anyway. We did not buy insurance for 2021, so we covered those costs ourselves. And this year, we are well insured with you again.

How did you end up at Klap No Risk?

Through word of mouth; someone asked where I was insured. We were insured with Interpolis because we also had a bank account with Rabobank. And then the person said "you would be much better off moving the insurance for the event to Klap No Risk, they specialise in events and they have the knowledge.  Did you ever take the time to read the terms and conditions at Interpolis?" Well I hadn't read those of course, so I assumed all was well. But then I switched to you guys, and it turned out great, so I won't be leaving either. That was in 2020, right when things went wrong. So I’ll be honest: I’m glad we switched in time.

How do you go about applying for insurance? Do you yourself know what needs to be insured, or do you ask for advice?

No, I complete the online application flow stating what I want to insure us against, which works very nicely. And then it shows me the premium and the insurance tax, easy as, and then I am insured. And you can often use chain liability, because each party we work with has its own liability insurance. We only work with reputable companies and always ask if they are insured.

The online application flow on our website has been completely revamped and improved. Have you used it yet?

No, I took out the insurance a few months ago, so I haven't used the latest version yet. I'm going to use it when I go to get insurance from you again for the local St Nicholas parade.