#WeMakeEvents Implores Government To Save Live Events

#WeMakeEvents has launched a campaign named The Government Can't See Us, drawing attention to the people working within the live events industry that currently have no way to earn a living.

#WeMakeEvents was originally launched by PLASA in April 2020 as a result of the impact of Covid-19 on their membership and wider supply chain to events.

The campaign grew to include over 21 industry bodies along with many companies and professionals in the UK. This led to the original ‘Red Alert – throw us a line’ day of action on August 11 2020 across the UK. The success of this initial activity has led to a global movement, coming together in a spirit of mutual support and solidarity.

“It has been almost a year since the first lockdown,” stated #WeMakeEvents. “A year since live events have not been allowed to take place. A year that people working in the live event supply chain have had no way to earn their living – and faced an uncertain future.

“But the Government can’t see us, and all too often, we have been excluded from their support schemes – leaving us without the help we’ve needed to survive since our industry closed down, and without a pathway to reopening.”

Click here to see just some of the thousands of people whose livelihoods have been hit hard by the pandemic.

“You can see them, but the Government can’t,” stressed #WeMakeEvents.

A survey conducted this year found that 93% of individuals and businesses in the live event supply chain have seen their income fall dramatically as a result of the pandemic – 65% have seen a fall of over 50%, and 30% a fall of over 90%.

As a result, 50% of individuals have had to take work outside of live events to supplement their income. A third have been forced to leave – or are considering leaving – the sector. On top of that, 43% of live event supply chain businesses say they don’t have the resources to last until the summer.

“This makes us one of the most heavily impacted sectors from the pandemic, but despite this we have received practically no targeted Government support. Put simply, the Government clearly can’t see the desperate human and economic impact the pandemic has had on the live event supply chain.”

What #WeMakeEvents are calling for:

1. Visibility in Government: the individuals and companies in the live event supply chain are frequently overlooked, therefore they need to be formally recognised by Government as a sector, and included in the data they use to target support.

2. Support to survive: Currently, many in the sector have been unjustly excluded from financial support; this must change or they will lose our cultural expression and reputation for delivering world class events.

3. Pathway to reopening: Despite knowing it takes many months of pre production work to make a live event happen, there is no clear pathway to reopening.

On top of that, the Government has refused to introduce a Covid-19 cancellation insurance scheme, despite the whole live events industry calling for this.

Write to your MP:

1. Tell them why you are writing to them – the Government can’t see the live event supply chain, therefore the targeted support from Government to survive the pandemic is not yet ha if(typeof takeoverUrls !== 'undefined' && takeoverUrls) { const takeoverContainer = document.querySelector('.o-takeover'); let takeoverUrl; takeoverContainer.addEventListener('click', function (e) { if (e.target.parentElement.matches('body')) { if(!takeoverUrls.url2.trim()) { takeoverUrl = takeoverUrls.url } else { const clickX = event.clientX; const windowHalfWidth = window.innerWidth / 2; if (clickX < windowHalfWidth) { console.log('left') takeoverUrl = takeoverUrls.url; } else { console.log('right') takeoverUrl = takeoverUrls.url2; } } dataLayer.push({ event: 'takeover_clicks', details: { ad_url: takeoverUrl, page_url: window.location.href, ad_type: 'takeover' } }) window.open(takeoverUrl); } }); } const promoForm = document.getElementById('promoForm'); if(promoForm) { const maxItems = parseInt(promoForm.dataset.maxItems); $('#promoForm .o-promo__item-input').change(function() { var selected = $('#promoForm').find('.o-promo__item-input:checked').length; if(selected >= maxItems + 1){ $(this).prop( "checked", false ); alert(`Maximum of ${maxItems} products already select`) } }); $('#promoForm').submit(function( e ) { let total = $('#promoForm').find('.o-promo__item-input:checked').length; if(total === 0 || total >= maxItems+1){ e.preventDefault(); let msg = ''; if(total === 0) { if (maxItems > 1) { msg = `Please select at least 1 product. (Max ${maxItems})`; } else { msg = 'Please select at a product'; } } else { msg = `Please select max ${maxItems} producs`; } $('#errorMsg').html(msg) } else { $('#promoForm').addClass('o-form--submitting'); $('#errorMsg').html(''); } }); }