U.S. music venues lighting up red on September 1 in support of the Restart Act
Music venues across the United States will light up red on Tuesday (9/1), urging Congress to pass the Restart Act which would support the small and mid-sized businesses most affected by the coronavirus pandemic, including much of the live events industry.
“The entire live events industry is on the brink of collapse. Without financial relief, many businesses stand to permanently close, and families risk bankruptcy and homelessness,” said Brad Nelms, director of WeMakeEvents North America, in a statement. “We want to take this opportunity to show the world the scale of what it takes to make live entertainment events happen and demonstrate how much this crisis has affected our community. This is a human issue, not a political issue, and it requires immediate action. While we realize there are a lot of issues going on right now, and other organizations will be staging events on other dates, we feel very strongly we must act now to save our industry.”
Over 50 US cities will be participating in the #RedAlertRESTART campaign, including: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Boston, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Miami, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Providence, Nashville, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Salt Lake City, Honolulu, Indianapolis, Buffalo, and more, plus Canadian cities Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Venues will be lit up on Tuesday from 9 PM - midnight.
More info on the #RedAlertRESTART campaign:
The goal to raise public awareness that the Live Events Industry is on Red Alert for its very survival, and create congressional pressure to act now. It is estimated that 96%, or as many as 12 million people in the Live Events Industry are currently unemployed, furloughed, or have lost up to 90% of their income, and the world’s largest concert promoters are reported a 98% loss of revenue since the start of the pandemic. Once a robust $35 billion industry, the Live Events business was the first to close and the last to re-open, sustaining increased financial losses in the tens of billions of dollars.
Via govtrack, The Restart Act "builds on the PPP and targets relief funds to small businesses hardest-hit by the COVID-19 crisis. The program offers small businesses partially forgivable loans for periods up to one year and provides needed flexibility for small businesses to cover a broad array of expenses, including payroll, mortgage interest, rent and utility payments, and PPE."
The #RedAlertRESTART campaign also supports ExtendPUA.org "in their efforts towards continuation and extension of the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance to provide relief to those without work due to COVID-19."