This is a challenging time for our music economy, and our survival will rely on re-opening strategies. REVS pilot cities are working with public health and local and state government to ensure venues are safe for staff, for patrons, and of course for you, the performer. Please consider responding to this brief survey as we seek to ensure your needs are met as we build safe reopening protocols for the live music industry. We want to better understand your fears and tolerances for performing to help us define what good stewardship looks like as we build safe reopening protocols for our live music industry. We don’t know when it will be safe to re-open live music venues, but we know that when we do, performer safety is a top priority. With strong survey participation, we can ensure safe and sustainable working conditions for our performing artists. bit.ly/SafeToPerform
ABOUT REVS
(CONTACT AKRON/CLEVELAND REVS LEADERSHIP: Jill Bacon Madden (Jilly’s Music Room) and Mark O’Shea (Goodyear Theater/Elevation Group)
Music Cities Together, a joint initiative between Washington D.C.-based Music Policy Forum (Michael Bracy) and Austin-based Sound Music Cities (Don Pitts) committed to helping local officials in cities across America improve their music ecosystems, is stepping up efforts to save music venues and clubs nationwide. Portland, Seattle (King County), New Orleans, Akron/Cleveland, Los Angeles, Austin, Albuquerque and Chicago are the first eight cities on board with the team’s REVS (Reopen Every Venue Safely) pilot program, which aims to “develop and disseminate action plans and budgets rooted in a hyper-pragmatic understanding of the challenges ahead” in the COVID-19 era.
For club owners and city officials seeking to save venues from shutting down, getting the safety-side operational details right when it comes time to re-open is more crucial than ever, as time may not be on the side of some clubs bleeding cash as stages remain silent in most states. And while hundreds of music venues nationwide have already joined newly formed advocacy group, the National Independent Venue Association, in order to lobby lawmakers in Washington D.C. for financial relief, Music Cities Together aims to help club owners on the operational side, as the coming months may see new local regulations from various state and city authorities that music venues may have to comply with in order to stay in business.