#SaveLiveEventsNow: Congressional Hearing on Live Event Industry Is Step Toward Much-Needed Pandemic Relief
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Manufacturing, Trade, and Consumer Protection is holding a hearing on the pandemic's impact on the live entertainment industry, exploring the negative economic effects that the hold on live events has had on event workers. The #SaveLiveEventsNow coalition issued the following statement in support of today's hearing:
"Since the pandemic began earlier this year, 95 percent of all live events have been canceled across the United States, causing a devastating ripple effect throughout the industry that typically powers these events. We applaud Senators Moran, Blumenthal, and all other leaders of the Subcommittee for holding this hearing and taking a closer look at what is needed to federally support the more millions of workers out of work until shows can return.
"Congress has an opportunity to direct meaningful financial relief for this workforce that continues to suffer. We hope this hearing is a step toward meaningful action that will extend employee retention tax credits, unemployment insurance, and health care coverage subsidies for live event workers. Most importantly, we hope Congress will update language in the Save Our Stages Act so eligibility includes workers at venues of all sizes. The whole industry is hurting just as much and immediate action is needed to support and retain this critical workforce so that all of the live events we miss and love can come back in 2021."
It takes a vast and diverse ecosystem of people, including performers, venue and festival workers, production crews, artist teams, and vendor staffs, including millions of part-time and gig workers, to power live events during normal times. These workers proactively shut down and stopped working to prioritize the greater good. As a result, there has been an estimated 70 to 80 percent reduction in staff and crew across the live event industry, resulting in 77 percent of live events workers losing 100 percent of their incomes. Nearly two-thirds of American artists across all disciplines are now unemployed, which means their crews are too. Millions of people have now had to go without a paycheck for more than nine months. And they will likely be the last workforce to get back to work even once the pandemic is mitigated at mass scale.
Bringing together the broadest coalition across the live events industry, the #SaveLiveEventsNow campaign supports meaningful congressional action that will provide direct relief for the workers of live events, including:
- Rewriting the Save Our Stages Act (S. 4258) to include workers at venues of all types and sizes;
- Extending employee retention tax credits so employers can retain workers and keep them on their health insurance;
- Extending $600 weekly Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, and Pandemic Emergency Employment Compensation;
- Passing 100 percent COBRA premium health care subsidies to keep employees' coverage; and
- Streamlining tax filings for mixed income earners through the Mixed Earner Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Act (H.R. 7691) and event business owners through the Performing Artist Tax Parity Act (H.R. 3121).
Text LIVE EVENTS to 40649 to email or tweet Congress to support these initiatives.
Focused on meeting the basic needs of workers to bridge the gap until events can return, #SaveLiveEventsNow works to protect the livelihoods of all live event workers, regardless of their employer. This ecosystem of creative, hard-working people is vital for powering live events and driving business for local restaurants, bars, transportation systems, and other vendors reliant upon these mass gatherings. Entire neighborhoods and cities are hurting from the stop on live events and #SaveLiveEventsNow is working to shore up resources for the people who power these communities.
About Save Live Events Now
Since the global pandemic struck the industry in March, more than 12 million people have had their jobs impacted by the stop on live events. As the fight for industry workers continues, the #SaveLiveEventsNow campaign works to support the people who power live events so they can bring music, theater, comedy, and all kinds of culture back when the show can go on once again. Learn more at saveliveeventsnow.com.
SOURCE #SaveLiveEventsNow
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