A new campaign, #WeMakeEvents, has launched today (September 30) to call on the UK government to provide much-needed further support for the events industry amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The campaign has shared a number of suggestions for how the government can support the events and music industry as numerous venues around the UK remain shut in line with current COVID-19 guidelines. Amongst the suggestions listed on its website is a call for a government-backed insurance scheme to ensure event organisers and attendees can recover costs from COVID-related cancellations; a testing scheme for event attendees; and a three-year extension to the reduced cultural VAT rate on tickets, grants, loans.
WeMakeEvents is calling on those who want to support the campaign to write to their MP, asking them to push the matter within parliament. Supporters can also share their own videos or images to social media using the #WeMakeEvents tag. Social media assets are available here.
Amongst those who’ve lent their support to the campaign today on the day of its launch are Glastonbury festival, Radiohead, Nadine Shah, Tim Burgess, and MPs such as Nadia Whittome and Caroline Lucas. Find out more about #WeMakeEvents via the campaign’s website.
The launch of #WeMakeEvents follows the announcement last week of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Winter Economy Plan, which mapped out the UK government’s economic strategy for dealing with coronavirus through the winter months. The plan drew heavy criticism from across the UK music industry, with many fearing a wave of imminent job losses, venue closures and further blows for the UK’s cultural landscape.
