Venues Across The Country To Light Up Red On September 1st In Support Of Restart Act [Video]

On Tuesday, September 1st, live music venues across the United States will light up red in an urgent plea of support for the Restart Act. The RedAlertRESTART initiative, spearheaded by the We Make Events organization, is meant to bring awareness to the still-struggling live music industry.

The Restart Act (s.3814) would extend the Paycheck Protection Program for certain businesses as well as authorize the Small Business Association (SBA) to guarantee loan amounts to businesses affected by the global pandemic. The loans would specifically target businesses with less than 500 employees who have seen at least a 25 percent decline in income.

Many independent music venues go above and beyond the requirements for loss in revenue, We Make Events notes. According to the organization, 95 percent of live events have been cancelled due to the pandemic, resulting in 77 percent of people in the industry losing 100 percent of their income. As the shutdown of live events continues, We Make Events North America director Brad Nelms felt that it was necessary to send an urgent message.

“The entire live events industry is on the brink of collapse. Without financial relief, many businesses stand to permanently close, and families risk bankruptcy and homelessness,” Nelms said in a statement. “We want to take this opportunity to show the world the scale of what it takes to make live entertainment events happen and demonstrate how much this crisis has affected our community. This is a human issue, not a political issue, and it requires immediate action. While we realize there are a lot of issues going on right now, and other organizations will be staging events on other dates, we feel very strongly we must act now to save our industry.”

Fifteen-hundred locations in 50 United States cities will participate in RedStartALERT, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Boston, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Miami, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Providence, Nashville, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Salt Lake City, Honolulu, Indianapolis, Buffalo, and more, plus Canadian cities Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. The venues will go red at 9 p.m. on Tuesday and remain lit until midnight.

For more information on the RedAlertRESTART campaign, visit the We Make Events website and watch the video below.

Red Alert 60 Seconds Spot

[Video: We Make Events – North America]

[H/T BrooklynVegan]