This petition is what spawned the Live Events Coalition. We have been working hard to represent the dire needs of all of us who have signed and shared this petition on behalf of the broad live events industry.  

Due to  the horrific impact of Covid19 on our industry, now in the month of July, it is imperative for us to all to work together to have our needs heard by our elected officials in Washington DC.
 
Also stated in prior updates, we have engaged a government relations and communications firm that has had a major impact on our behalf in discussions regarding the needs and long term crisis facing our industry.  This impact has led us to play a key role in helping promote and move forward one of the more promising and important pieces of legislation, the Restart Act. This will provide a lifeline to our small businesses and independent contractors for another 6 months and beyond if passed.
 
We still  have an enormous amount of work to do in regards to advocating on behalf of our industry as the next CARES act is debated and hopefully passed by the end of July or early August.  It is vital our voices are heard in the conversation regarding the final language of the RESTART act (or other PPP type of programs) and adjustments/extension of the PUA program. 
 
We need your help now more than ever.  Recently we launched our official membership drive for the Live Events Coalition.  We need all of you who have signed this petition to sign up as official members to help our movement and coalition reach the next level of advocacy.  We are 100% volunteer and grass roots based without any major corporate interest funding or directing our efforts.  Quality advocacy is costly and we need all of us to pitch in what we can.  So please sign up for membership here and give what you can and we will ensure it gets put to work on amplifying all our voices right away. 

https://members.liveeventscoalition.org/home/join 

(as noted in previous updates all monies given to the petition only go to Change.org so we did not get funded in any way through the massive signing of the petition)
 
 
 #wishiwasthere
is a new campaign we have launched.  Phase 1 launched this week to go beyond our initial social media campaigns and will shift to engage supporters beyond our industry. The second phase will run during the peak of the debate around the next CARES aid package.  This campaign is much more developed and requires all of us in the industry to post as much a possible for the next 2 weeks. Please see the information tool kit here at this link and get started with you and your events network sharing right away.
 
#wishiwasthere tool kit

The #wishiwasthere campaign is another example of the need for adequate fundraising to our cause.  During phase 2 of the campaign we have a very important need for paid advertising and are working hard with our fundraising efforts to fill the gaps and bring our industry to the forefront.  The larger our budget the greater the impact. There is no more important time than the month of July, for our industry to be at the center of the economic recovery efforts and debate.
 
I truly believe in this moment of urgency our industry will rise to the occasion and support each other in this tremendous effort.  It has been an honor to have received so much support throughout the industry and an honor for the board of the Live Events Coalition and myself to serve all of you.  Please join us as an official member and support our campaign in this critical moment.

The video also provides more in depth information on the Live Events Coalition Membership, Coalition's work and the #wishiwasthere campaign.