Late Thursday, the NAMM executive committee leadership cosigned an urgent letter to House and Senate leaders Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy and Chuck Schumer, urging them to act now to provide provisions for the hardest-hit businesses to access additional PPP funds; long-term, low-interest loans; and supplemental unemployment insurance to assist the hundreds of thousands of creative industry service workers impacted by the pandemic. The letter read:
“Dear Leaders Pelosi, McConnell, McCarthy and Schumer:
We write with great urgency concerning music and live event businesses and organizations that were the first to experience devasting interruptions and cancellations caused by the global pandemic. These businesses and organizations present and support a wide range of music and live events ranging from Broadway shows, regional theater, state and county fairs, large touring events, and business conferences to small local jazz clubs across the US. These businesses contribute $877 billion to local and regional economies and represent over 10 million jobs.
We appreciate the leadership Congress has shown by providing vital, short-term assistance earlier this year, however businesses in the music and live event industry that are facing prolonged closure desperately need additional help.
Social distancing, capacity limitations and other restrictions mean that the live event industry will not recover in any meaningful way until well into next year. Additional relief, including long-term loans, is needed to allow these businesses to remain viable and in a position to reopen strongly when it is possible again.
Music and live events of all kinds generate millions in tax revenue and sustain jobs in communities across the country. Restaurants, hotels, retail stores, and other local businesses directly benefit from the hundreds of millions of concerts, theater, festivals, fairs and events that are attended each year. Live performance venues and the artists and workers in the industry are the lifeblood of the cultural and social identity of our neighborhoods.
We urge you to support financial relief that help music and live event sectors as follows:
- Provisions allowing the hardest-hit businesses to receive a second PPP loan
- Long-term, low-interest loans with deferred interest and forgivable principal repayments that support
business sustainability and recovery, provisions that are included in RESTART legislation - Supplemental unemployment insurance funding to assist the hundreds of thousands of creative industry
sector workers who are still without jobs
We need your action now so music and live event enterprises — businesses and nonprofits that are the lifeblood
of the cultural and social identity of our community — can bridge to the time when these events are once again, the economic engines of communities everywhere.
On behalf of our members, workers and our local communities, thank you for considering this request.”
In an email, NAMM also urged MI business owners and employees to contact Congress and inform them that help is needed.
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