Performing Arts Reps Warn House Hearing Not To Let “Creative Infrastructure Of Our Economy Vanish” As Covid Continues But Aid Doesn’t

deadline.com:

Advocates for the creative economy — from the head of a performing arts center to a venue owner, an actor and an Actors’ Equity exec — lobbied Congress today to shore up the industry before it’s too late amid an ongoing Covid-19 crisis.“We cannot let the creative infrastructure of our economy vanish,” said Carson Elrod, an actor and co-founder of Be An #ArtsHero/Arts Workers United, at a hearing before the House Small Business Committee.

He walked through his theatrical career since March, 2020, a cycle of starts and cancelations (most recently ‘The Alchemist’ off-Broadway at New World Stages) in an industry where workers are still suffering grievous financial fallout from Covid-related shutdowns even as government assistance programs have dried up.“The human need to gather, to find cultural experiences will be enormous after this.

We need Congress to move so arts workers can stay arts workers in the 21st century,” he said, coming out strongly for a new government position of Secretary of Arts and Culture.

The idea has been floated and is needed to develop guidelines that will “stabilize us and put a floor under us” and expand eligibility requirements, Elrod said, especially since we could see variant after variant.