(CelebrityAccess) — A petition has been launched calling on the Federal government to throw a financial lifeline to the beleaguered events industry as it struggles with the challenges presented by coronavirus.
The petition, posted to Change.org by Digerati Productions’ Isaac Rothwell, seeks to sound the alarm about the impact that the cancellation of an unprecedented number of live events will have on the industry, and the knock-on effect it will have as the financial catastrophe expands.
“Many times, friends and family are surprised to learn the vast encompassing nature of the live events and business meetings industry and all it entails, so it is no surprise that the media has given little coverage to the economic devastation that has already begun to transpire. Many people don’t realize the vast number of roles and jobs in our industry including meeting planners, account executives, sales, warehouse managers, producers, project managers, drivers, operations managers, executives, administrative staff, technicians, stagehands, general labor and service workers along with many more that work behind scenes to bring people and businesses together every day of the year never-ceasing 24/7, until now…” Rothwell wrote.
“Currently, the live events and business meetings industry is in free fall and headed toward a complete collapse with no end in sight. There are already strong ripples of this impact to the transportation and hospitality industry (hotels, conference centers, restaurants etc.) that rely on our industry which have received media and governmental attention, but no mention of the larger losses that are reaching into the billions and billions of dollars, and continuing to climb by the minute, in the live events and business meetings industry,” he added.
The petition proposed an aid package with several initiatives to help stave off the worst of the destruction that the industry faces, including:
Emergency Medicaid Health insurance to cover business owners, contracts, and laid-off employees.
An additional $200 Billion in low interest federally backed business liquidity loans to bolster $50 billion already pledged by President Trump.
$100 Billion in Employee Retention Grants, which the petition says are necessary to avoid widespread layoffs in the industry.
Other initial signatories of the petition include Randy Pruitt, Trevor Zulinke, Adam Gogan, and it has already garnered almost 200,000 supporters.
