By ESTA
ESTA is proud to help raise awareness of the dire need for Congress to both pass the RESTART Act (S.3814), which would extend the Paycheck Protection Program and establish SBA loan guarantees for certain businesses, and extend the Pandemic Unemployment Act. These measures will help our industry, which is on Red Alert for its very survival. That is why we need your help to spread the word about #RedAlertRESTART.
To call attention to the deep financial plight of the Live Event Industry, a nationwide event will take place on 
Tuesday, September 1st, 2020, from 9 pm-midnight. As of now, around 1,500 buildings across North America will be lit in red as a show of support for the Live Events Industry. We hope this message will help that number grow. The goal is create congressional pressure to act now. Once a robust $35 billion industry, the Live Events business was the first to close and will be the last to re-open, forever changing the lives of those involved.
#WeMakeEvents, #RedAlertRESTART and #ExtendPUA represent a major call to action, imploring the US Congress to pass the RESTART Act (S.3814) as quickly as possible, offering economic relief to the Live Events Industry which has been shuttered since March, 2020. Additionally, the movement is to support ExtendPUA.org in their efforts towards continuation and extension of the Pandemic Unemployment Act.
The North American event was inspired by the August 11th event #WeMakeEvents Red Alert Day Of Action, when over 700 buildings were lit in red across the UK. That event, organized by PLASA (https://www.plasa.org/we-make-events/), called attention to the same plight facing the Live Events Industry there.
As wedding halls, theaters, concert tours, festivals, opera houses, trade shows remain closed (or open on a very limited basis) and live events as well as film and television production continue to be canceled, the entire industry is impacted, from designers, technicians, programmers, and stagehands to rental shops, manufacturers, and distributors of entertainment technology.
Please share this message far and wide and join by lighting your house red and posting on social media. Attached is a graphic you may also use on your website or social media channels. This is our opportunity to show the world the scale of what it really takes to make events possible.
For information about joining the event and lighting your building red, please contact: WeMakeEventsNorthAmerica@gmail.com.
