Andy Stinton
Owner, Event Studio
Co-founder, Live Event Community
Well, here we are mid-June, the CERB payments have been continued (sadly skipping a 2 week period) which will affect many of us in the live event industry. I also hear people being disappointed in the government for their way of handing out the money. I have no understanding of why – it may be operational and the government may have to redo their systems. It could be bad governing however that’s the way it is. I avoid partisan arguments as I think the provincial and federal governments have done a good job under the circumstances.
I don’t see the live event industry coming back anytime soon
Andy Stinton, Event Studio
The bigger issue is that I don’t see the live event industry coming back anytime soon and when it does hobble back, it will be with reduced staffing needs. As a producer, I had to find alternative sources of income. I am now producing webcasts notice the word producing. Sadly my competition has expanded to just about everybody who has a laptop and some software. A lot of my competition comes from AV suppliers,
HANG ON THERE I DON’T RENT AV GEAR and am by the way a customer.
Unfortunately, this is the way not just now but in the future, our roles in the business are in jeopardy or don’t exist. It’s every person for themselves, the AV companies in their minds owe freelancers nothing. (notice the absence of them on Live Event Community) So if you are mad or worried about missing some payments from CERB, I would respectfully suggest that you worry about having a job and sadly start looking for other sources of income ’cause CERB is going to end and your rent will still be due.