The entertainment network is on alert.
Melbourne’s King Centre will light up with red lights on Tuesday night. The same will happen with Surfside Playhouse in Cocoa Beach. Cinemas, like many across the country, have been closed or operated with limited capacity since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
#WeMakeEvents, a national coalition of entertainment industry professionals, is convening at live events across the country to appease itself in red for the crusade #RedAlertRESTART that begins at nine p.m.Tuesday.
The goal is to bring light to the effect that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the struggling live entertainment industry, and to urge Congress to vote for the RESTART Act (S.3814), which calls for loan programs and other economic relief for shuttered businesses.
In addition, advocates want to support #ExtendPUA, an extension of the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, to provide financial help to those currently unemployed due to COVID-19
Since March 2020, 77% of others in the live event sector have lost 100 percent of their revenue, according to a press release from #WeMakeEvents.
Brad Nelms, the American director of #WeMake Events, said in a press release: “The organization has achieved incredible results for this vital movement, recruiting more than 30 regional administrators to lead the initiative in domestic markets.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, live event sites were among the first to close. Theatres close and concerts and festivals are canceled. Workers have been fired or dismissed indefinitely. As the pandemic continues, the entertainment industry may be one of the last to reopen, according to its supporters.
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The King Center has had to cancel, postpone or reschedule more than 60 events since March. Part of the challenge of reopening includes negotiating with acts to perform at houses with reduced capacity.
“Given the current CDC guidelines, it makes it difficult financially on all sides to bring an event to the King Center with a limited capacity,” wrote Katie Koerber, Marketing Manager for the King Center. “For a lot of artists, they love seeing a full theater with fans and that is currently limited to what the CDC mandates for live entertainment spaces.”
It will take time to return to normal. Even if capacity restrictions were fully lifted, data suggests that audiences are slow to return to large group gatherings.
According to Know Your Own Bone, a website that shares data-driven research about how visitors to cultural organizations think and behave, performance-based organizations can expect only 23.3% of their 2019 attendance, even if they could open at full capacity. That means organizations should plan based on lower volume and fewer ticket sales, even in a best-case scenario.
For information about joining the Red Alert event, email [email protected], or visit wemakeevents.org or facebook.com/WeMakeEventsNorthAmerica.
Christina LaFortune is the entertainment and TgIF editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Follow her on Facebook at facebook.com/christinalafortune, on Twitter at @lafortunec, or send her an email at [email protected].
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