Alliance for Canadian Event Relief: A Collective Voice for the Canadian Event Industry
ACER is a collective voice for the Canadian event industry. The Covid-19 pandemic saw our industry decimated overnight with no long-term relief in sight. We have created this alliance to rally our fellow event professionals and garner support from the greater community that benefits directly from our industry.
An empty theatre collecting dust.
Our Industry Will Not Survive .
We are a multi-faceted industry comprised of a highly specialized and skilled labour force— performers, technicians, designers, producers... the list goes on.
The COVID-19 pandemic has threatened not only our health but also our ability to sustain our labour force, which is entirely dependent on the gathering of people.
Without much-needed government funding and consultation, our industry will not survive the pandemic.
Inspiring individuals in our industry to have their voice heard.
Taking Action.
So what is ACER going to do to help live event individuals?
We are taking the following steps to encourage individuals in our industry to take tangible action:
Engaging our community by:
Highlighting the voices of individuals within our industry who have been affected by the shutdown due to COVID-19.
Providing a central space for peer connection, resources, and information.
Tracking the ongoing needs of our members and adapting our strategies to meet the challenges posed by the pandemic.
Highlighting lobby work that is currently active, and encourage our community to take tangible action regarding:
An incremental reopening of live events prior to Phase 4.
The continuation of the CEWS and CERB programs to support our industry through to its reopening.
The creation of a Canadian event industry stimulus package.
Deeply dependent on one another.
While health orders remain in place that prohibit large gatherings, we as companies, vendors and contractors continue to face the daunting reality of long-term unemployment, and the potential caving in of our industry as a whole.
This is an industry that is deeply dependent on the well-being and survival of one another. Companies do not survive without contractors and vendors and vice versa. Our work is specialized, and unique.
Quite often there are many skills that are unable to be translated to other industries, and we risk losing our talent entirely if we are unable to support them. For those of us still standing, we are trying to adapt, to create anew, but we are limited, and the time frame of creating something new and profitable is too short for us to be able to support our communities and ourselves.
Build Connections. Inspire Change.
Create Change.
We need extended government support as we adapt to an economy without events to ensure we have a future, and so events CAN be present and ready to operate safely and successfully when Phase 4 comes around.
Please sign this petition to ask the CEWS wage subsidy is extended for businesses in the events and concerts industry indefinitely at 75% or more, and that CERB is extended indefinitely for contractors in the events and concerts industry.