Sending Out An S.O.S. For Music Venues
Five Months After ‘Save Our Stages’ Became Law, Indie Venues Have Received $0 in Federal Relief
A $900 billion “relief” package was signed into law in December of 2020. Included in that bill was $16 billion for the Save Our Stages Act. Many independent venue owners thought they could breathe easier and figured their eight-month battle to secure financial assistance to stay afloat had finally come to an end. Unfortunately, that never happened.
According to Variety:
$0: That’s how much money the Small Business Administration has paid independent venues since Save Our Stages Act — which guarantees independent venues and theaters $16 billion in federal pandemic relief — was passed into law five months ago.
Indie venues have been struggling to keep afloat since the pandemic began more than 15 months ago, and they have received no federal aid, while countless other businesses have received billions in relief grants. Tens of thousands of venues have submitted applications for Shuttered Venue Operators Grants.
A rep for the SBA, which had said it hoped to begin distribution last week, confirmed to Variety that payments have not been processed, pointing to the latest in a long string of technical issues with its website.
The rollout of the Save Our Stages Act has been hampered by red tape and government bureaucracy. As a result, independent venues have yet to receive a dime of the funds set aside for them. The Wall Street Journal reports that over 12,000 independent venues in the US have applied for Shuttered Venue Operators Grants since the SBA began accepting applications on April 26.
According to Variety, it took eight months of lobbying to get the act passed and another four months after the bill was signed for the Small Business Administration to launch its Shuttered Venues Operators Grant website. When the site went live, it immediately crashed and was relaunched two and a half weeks later.
The SBA confirmed the payments have not been processed, pointing to the latest in a long string of technical issues they are still having with its website. Considering the speed with which PPP loans were sent out, and restaurants recently received aid, the delay is confounding.
This is how the United States Federal government handles your tax money during a pandemic:
Step 1: Force your business to close.
Step 2: Pass a law to help support your business.
Step 3:
Step 4: Begin to ask where the money went and get no answers.
He might have delivered the money, but to the ACT and not to the people.
Have you personally benefitted from the billions of dollars passed by congress over the past fifteen months?
Clayton Craddock is a father, independent thinker, and the founder and publisher of the social and political commentary newsletter Think Things Through and host of the Think Things Through Podcast.
He's an alumnus of Howard University and is the drummer for the Broadway musical Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times Of The Temptations.
Other musicals include: "Tick, tick…BOOM!, Altar Boyz, Memphis The Musical, and Lady Day At Emerson's Bar and Grill. Also, Clayton has worked on: Footloose, Motown, The Color Purple, Rent, Little Shop of Horrors, Spongebob Squarepants, The Musical, Evita, Cats, and Avenue Q.
Follow him on Instagram, Twitter or read more on his website: claytoncraddock.com