Sea of red for events

PROMINENT venues will be lit up red tomorrow to draw attention to the decimated events industry.

The industry is worth $36bn annually, involves 18,000 businesses and employs 185,000 Australians. Yet key players say they feel like they have been forgotten in the corona virus crisis.

Tasmania’s parliament will be bathed in red, as will Launceston’s Albert Hall and Devonport’s parnaple centre.

THE ravaged events industry hopes a national campaign to light prominent venues up in red will make government and the public pay attention to its plight as festival sand gigs tentatively return to the calendar.

“We are the first people to step up and do charity show for bushfire relief or other causes but it feels like we have been forgotten,” tour and production manager Barry Brody said.

The events industry is worth $36bn annually, involves 18,000 businesses and employs 185,000 Australians.

On Wednesday, the #WeMakeEvents Australia campaign will light up buildings in cities and towns across Australia to symbolise the red alert over its future.

Tasmania’s parliament will be bathed in red and an LED screen will display information in front of an empty stage.

In Launceston the Albert Hall will be lit up along with Devon port’ s para nap le centre.

“It is like the age-old adage, we seem to be out of sight, out of mind ,” Mr Brody said.

“Thousands of Tasmanians have lost work — musicians, roadies, security personal, truck drivers, artists, riggers and caterers.

“In March, I, like many others, suddenly lost every event in my diary for 14 months .”

In Tasmania, Dark Mofo was the first major event casualty of the pandemic.

Other major drawcards like the Falls Festival and the Forth Valley Blues Festival followed suit, along with mainland festivals.

The industry is also lobbying for sustained government supports aying the Prime Minister’s $250m plan to restart Australia’s creative economy and $400m incentive for the film and screen industry would not reach the hundreds of companies which supply lighting, audio, staging, video and other production services to events.

“Many businesses that collectively employ several thousand people have not worked on an event since March and current government plans make no mention of when live events maybe able to return to normal,” an industry spokesmansaid.