I don’t know if audiences really understand how dire the situation is for millions of hard-working professionals.
Broadway is closed until 2021
A few West End venues THINK they can open in the next couple of months
Cirque du Soleil is filing for bankruptcy and cut 3500+ jobs
Feld Entertainment laid off 90% of its workforce permanently
Live Nation had to lay off a significant amount of employees.
Cruise ship entertainers are out of work and theme park productions have no idea when they will be recalled.
There are no concerts, festivals or touring productions scheduled until 2021 and if they don’t happen next year, they may never happen again!
No Jazz Fest, no Coachella, no Bonnaroo, no EDC, no Glastonbury, no Download, no ROLLING STONES FINAL TOUR(S), no ballet, no opera....all gone!
It’s being predicted that 90% of independent music venues may close, the longer this continues.
Performing arts and music organisations of all kinds- choirs, theatres, orchestras, dance companies , festivals, music venues, not to mention all the technical suppliers and freelancers - all are trying to figure out on a daily basis how to keep going and employ anyone they can in the field.
More than 12,000,000 people work in entertainment production, we are not insignificant and this industry cannot reopen until mass gatherings can happen again.
This doesn’t include the additional layoff of venue management and bar staff, security and thousands of vendors. So, when you see your entertainment friends begging you to wear masks and stay at home, understand that we are helplessly watching our industry crumble before our eyes because the country is doing so poorly at reducing the spread. This IS personal for us, our entire livelihood is dependent on social gathering and we will not accept being labeled “nonessential”.
Music and art are critical to a cheerful, balanced society. They are the foundations for our culture and they make up one of the most financially profitable industries in the UK, returning £6 for every £1 invested, and worth more than aerospace, automotive, oil and gas, and life sciences COMBINED!
Everyone’s career and the whole industry is indefinitely on hold. PLEASE wear your mask (over your mouth AND your nose) and wash your hands.