NAMM is issuing an urgent call-to-action to all industry professionals to contact their Members of Congress NOW to support the RESTART Act (S.3814). The bill would provide provisions for the hardest-hit businesses to access additional PPP funds, long term, low-interest loans, and supplemental unemployment insurance to assist the hundreds of thousands of creative industry service workers impacted by the pandemic.
Contact your Member of Congress NOW
Michael T. Strickland of Bandit Lites states, “The Live Event Industry has been at zero revenue since March 13, 2020 and will be until 2021. It is imperative that Congress take action to support decimated industries like live events. There is simply no time and no method aside from passing the next relief bill with the RESTART Act language. We must all ask of our Members of Congress and Senators to do the right thing and save small businesses that will fail. This is our D-Day.”
The call-to-action coincides with #RedAlertRESTART, a global campaign that will take place on Tuesday, September 1, 2020. The event will see thousands of buildings across the U.S. lit in red to raise public awareness of the impact of COVID on the live events industry. Earlier this year, a study from PLSN magazine indicated that 77% of professionals in the space have lost 100% of their income; 96% of companies have cut their staff;, and 97% of independent contractors (1099) have lost their jobs.
“We must put pressure on our elected officials to understand the urgent needs of music and live event businesses and organizations,’ said Mary Luehrsen, NAMM’s director of public affairs and government relations. “We need every person in the music and live event sector to write to their Member of Congress and express the urgent needs and proposed legislative solutions – act NOW!”
NAMM encourages live event businesses and professionals to add their voice in support of relief by contacting their representatives to provide targeted COVID-19 business relief for live event businesses and individual professionals. A letter generator is available here: https://app.govpredict.com/portal/grassroots/campaigns/pwaiiq7t/take_action
Since March, NAMM has advocated for all facets of the industry for COVID-19 business relief and, in conjunction with this, offered a series of webinars, tools, and other resources to support COVID-19 recovery. View those resources here: https://www.namm.org/issues-and-advocacy/covid-19-updates-and-resources-business
