Anmari Mëtsa Yabi Wili, President of the Forum Musik Diversität FMD, answers the questions of the Swiss Music Newspaper.

How are you and the FMD doing after this year?

The vacuum in cultural life is naturally affecting institutions and private individuals. It would be acutely important to plan events to cultivate cohesion and attract new members. Perhaps it is precisely because of this shortage that other ways of participating in cultural life can be found, e.g. a new membership of a cultural association!

Me personally? I've never been so healthy in my entire life. Fortunately, I have multiple jobs. Events with an audience are usually spread loosely over the year, so I'm not suffering from an acute life change. In between, I write a lot, create new works and projects. My studio in the cargo hold of my culture freighter Lorin is mobile, which I'm making the most of right now, especially in these overwhelming times. Since November, I've been working on my next projects mainly in Germany and Holland. During the pandemic, shipping includes a form for business trips, which allows me and my crew to cross borders freely on foot and by car, plane or train.

It fills me with joy that I started one of my central projects years before Covid: the annual performance rides with Lorin, which also work perfectly with Corona: Only now do I realize the relationship to street art. The evenings on which we will be traveling from when to when are published. But no guests are taken on board, no tickets are needed, no seating. People move freely in the public space, whether we are there or not. We have found a subtle, delicate language that allows us to stick to our guns in a contemporary, experimental way. And yet even in the dark, i.e. at bedtime or bedtime for a large part of the population, we fit into the big broad society, on the Rhine in the middle of Basel's population. A model that we are currently transferring to other European cities on the water.

Last but not least: it's an exhausting time. Every idea needs 5 times more background work. Everyone involved needs 5 times more nerves, and we are already in a very nerve-wracking profession.

What is particularly drastic for you about the Corona period?

I find it appalling that all theaters, concert halls, cinemas, museums, rehearsal venues, youth clubs are closed, women's and other demonstrations are banned, while full planes, streetcars, Christmas crowds, football parties, standing cabins on cable cars that are two-thirds full, mountain restaurants and church services are promoted. This means accepting the loss of high levels of culture and education.

I am very surprised that the general public, with a globally aligned narrative, is moving in one direction and then the other, as if in a kind of shock paralysis. That it is not my doctor but the Federal Councillor who says what is healthy for us, that I should hug my grandchild but not look after him. I was also shocked that the Federal Council made us believe that we had the "medical and financial means" for a lockdown. After all, large amounts of money are regularly lacking in all cultural sectors and there are eternal serious problems in the world such as refugee flows and famines.

Far too little attention is paid to the psychological effects, although the primary aim is to overcome a holistic health problem. It is as if we have been thrown back decades, when homeopathy or acupuncture were foreign words, gender and LGBT etc. were foreign words. were foreign words. The various needs of society had just begun to receive attention, feelers had just been put out for development opportunities, progressive projects had just begun - all of which are now more or less lying fallow again.

I would love to strike a positive note, and unfortunately I can't with this question, which is probably the worst thing about the whole thing!

How do you think the corona period is changing the music profession and/or your association?

It is a time for self-reflection: the self-employed are looking for new formats, employees are worried about their future. People are looking for new connections. Some audiences are finding new, interesting ways to engage with culture. What is threatening is that not only our audiences but also our active circles are trying to replace live culture with the internet. Losses in quality and education are tolerated in a general passive kind of depression or hopelessness. In the end, however, I trust in the strength and intellect of people: After slumbering for long enough, experience shows that an unstoppable energy spreads to overcome the crisis and tackle life with a strengthened sense of self-direction. I think street art can develop into an important branch of culture.

What question would you like to ask the Federal Council? Or what would you like him to do to revive the music scene?

My request to the Federal Council is: Our free choice of doctor gives a colorful picture of our diverse and actually free society compared to other cultures. Please leave behavioral decisions to medical professionals. As a rule, measures prescribed by doctors are simply understood and followed. After all, it is the doctors who accompany us through health crises, who can use their records to warn and protect people at risk in good time so that the more robust people can continue to enjoy their freedom throughout all generations. I am also convinced that medical and therapeutic professionals want to promote cultural and social activities as an important part of life in terms of health. We urgently need these voices!

Please create new, easy-to-understand support formats specifically for culture and education that can be implemented within a reasonable period of time.

When you listen to music, a book or a movie, please keep in mind that these "products" are the result of professional development that often begins at a young age or at important youthful meetings. Please make this possible.

Events in all forms must be possible again very quickly with the best confidence in the people. I would like to address this in particular to my predecessor, Federal Councillor Simonetta Sommaruga, former pianist and former President of FMD, ForumMusikDiversität Schweiz.