2020: The year of the nightlife advocate

It’s never been more important to join the nightlife advocacy movement.

As 2020 draws to a close, the future for nightlife is wide open.

Though the pandemic swung at nighttime industries and communities like a wrecking ball, this year became about much more than just damage control.

2020 may well be known as the year nightlife advocacy truly took off on a global scale, with engaged advocates like yourselves working together to bring the needs of nighttime industries into mainstream discourse, to lead by example in encouraging government to be proactive and not reactive in its policy making, and to seize this once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine and redesign better, bolder and more resilient nightlife scenes throughout the world.In the midst of the pandemic new positions were created, new alliances formed, and new opportunities seized to communicate our message to decision makers. Cities with active nightlife advocates proved more resilient, despite being some of the hardest hit by the pandemic.

As we enter 2021, nightlife scenes across the world have never been in a more precarious position – nor have they ever held so much possibility for change. It is both an exciting and essential time to be active as an advocate.

On that note, we’d like to applaud those in our network who have volunteered so much of their time, energy and expertise this year. Thank you for your ingenuity, your enthusiasm and your inspiring tenacity. Keep it coming in 2021!Stay safe, stay positive, and most of all – stay the course. We hope to see you on the dance floor next year.

With love and disco balls,

Mirik, Lutz, Jess, Diana and Jordan (The VibeLab team)
To find out what we have been up to and what is upcoming next year you can read the full 2020 round up newsletter here