Last night, I joined fellow industry comrades (stagehands, runners, actors, makeup artists, lighting designers, directors, musicians, producers, DJs, sound engineers, dancers, technicians, box office staff) in solidarity outside of landmark Bournemouth venues as did thousands of others across the UK where they demonstrated and turned those landmarks RED. Highlighting the challenges the events industry face at this difficult time.
#WeMakeEvents – now at RED ALERT
The events sector urgently needs government support to survive the COVID-19 crisis.
Without major immediate support from government, the entire live events sector supply chain is at risk of collapse. Red Alert is a campaign to raise public and media awareness in support of the live events sector is worth £100billion+ to the economy and employs over circa 1,000,000 highly skilled people in the UK and, all of whom have had no work for the past four months with little likelihood of restarting until Spring 2021.
The industry is calling for meaningful support from the Government until it is allowed to operate in a way that is not limited by social distancing policies including:
1. Grants – not loans – made available to businesses in the events supply chain.
2. Furlough scheme extended until the industry is back to work.
3. Extension of the self-employment scheme, tailored towards the industry.
Sign the petition on: www.plasa.org/we-make-events/
Photo Credits go to: CPS Group