MILWAUKEE (SEPT.1, 2020) – On Tuesday, September 1st, 2020, from 9pm- Midnight, local Milwaukee event businesses including; Acme Corp, Blizzard, Dynamic Events by David Caruso, Exciting Events, Fiserv, F Street Hospitality, Go Around, Kennicott Brothers, KNE Staging, Majic Productions, Mandel Visual Branding, Red Petal, The Rental Store and Studio Gear are creating a NON-EVENT at the Entertainment District grounds surrounding the Fiserv Forum. This NON-EVENT, which is coordinated with the national movement #WeMakeEvents, #RedAlertRESTART, #ExtendPUA and wemakeevents.org will call attention to the plight of the employees and businesses who specialize in creating Live Events. As many as 12 million people in the Live Events Industry are currently unemployed or furloughed. The Hospitality Industry has lost over 1.6 million jobs and $84 billion in earnings since the beginning of the pandemic. These once robust industries were the first to close, and in some cases are still not open. These closures have changed the lives of everyone involved and continue to hurt the events and hospitality industries.
“#WeMakeEvents,””#RedAlertRESTART” and “#ExtendPUA” represent a major call to action, imploring the US Congress to pass the RESTART Act (S.3814) as quickly as possible, offering economic relief to the Live Events Industry which has been shuttered since March, 2020.
“The live event industry has been devastated during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s now time to take action and to adopt the RESTART Act along with other financial assistance programs to allow businesses and workers a chance at recovering their livelihoods. The NON-EVENT at Fiserv Forum is intended to draw attention to the thousands of industry professionals in the Greater Milwaukee area that have lost their income and to the companies that no longer have a revenue stream. We must support #RESTART!” Says David Caruso, President and Creative Director of Dynamic Events.
Over 20 buildings in the Milwaukee-area will be lit in red on Tuesday, September 1st to show solidity with other national entertainment and hospitality workers along with the businesses that have been affected by COVID-19. The NON-EVENT which includes a stage, video, lighting, tables, chairs, décor and buffets, will stand empty and not allow admittance, as there are no employees to work the event. Additionally, there will be industry persons available for interview at 1:00pm September 1st, 2020 at the NON-EVENT site located in the Fiserv Forum plaza.
As restaurants, event venues, corporate events, theaters, concert tours, festivals, trade shows and other live events remain closed (or open on a very limited basis), the entire industry is impacted, from servers, chefs, planners, designers, technicians, programmers and stagehands to rental shops, manufacturers and distributors of entertainment technology.
The #RedAlertRESTART event will see over 1000 buildings across North America lit in red. The goal is to raise public awareness that the Live Events Industry is on red alert for its very survival and create congressional pressure to act now.
“We are working together today to bring some attention to a sector of the economy that was among the first to be shut down and which will undoubtedly be among the last to reopen. Live events are a part of our lives. Whether you think about those as concerts, plays, weddings, sporting events, business meetings, trade shows or any others on a long list, we have been forced to stop doing the work that we love. Today, we are asking anyone willing to look and listen to participate in a nationwide effort to draw attention to our situation. #WeMakeEvents, #RedAlertRESTART and #ExtendPUA are in place to provide information and draw some attention towards the state of our industry both locally and nationally,” says Robyn Schultz, Regional Director-MKE, RedAlertRestart
Additionally, the movement is to support ExtendPUA.org in their efforts towards continuation and extension of the Pandemic Unemployment Act, to provide relief to those without work due to COVID-19.
The North American event comes on the heels of the August 11 event #WeMakeEvents’s “Red Alert Day Of Action” with over 700 buildings lit in red across the UK. That event called attention to the same plight facing the Live Events Industry there, the #RedAlertRestart event in North America hopes to receive the same response across the map.