Greetings – The American Rescue Plan just signed into law includes funds to rescue and restart performing arts. As we all know, these things don’t just happen. You’ve seen the #SaveOurStages hashtag in the bottom left corner of our livestream screen for months now. That hashtag has been the rallying cry of the myriad entities that make up the live music industry. If you wrote a letter or made a call to get #SaveOurStages funds included in the rescue package, please know that yours was one of well over one million messages delivered.

We are proud to say that our congresswoman, Elise Stefanik, as well as our senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirstin Gillibrand, were all advocates for the arts bailout. However, Senator Schumer deserves an extra thank you. At the last minute, he removed a significant barrier in the bill so that qualifying venues can have a much better chance of securing meaningful assistance.

This money will preserve the diverse ecosystem of performing arts venues, and will therefore have a lasting impact on the music we will hear for many years to come.