\u201cSince the pandemic started in early to mid-March, we\u2019ve been the first people that have been cancelled and had to refund tickets, people who lost their jobs first,\u201d says Mark Consiglio, president of the Boston Chapter of the Live Events Coalition, which represents about 500 behind-the-scenes folks who produce live shows.<\/p>\n
\u201cExhibits, conventions, sporting events, hotel AV, those are the folks that were affected first,\u201d the Norwell resident says. \u201cEssentially the live events people, the people behind the scenes, were the first people cancelled and sent home. And we\u2019re likely to be the last people to go back to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
So on Tuesday, July 21, at 10 a.m., the organization plans to rally at the steps of the Massachusetts State House in Boston<\/a> to call for help. \u201cThere certain things that have to be done for our community because everything is closed down and we can\u2019t go back to work,\u201d Consiglio says. The group is calling on the United States Congress to extend Pandemic Unemployment Assistance of $600 per week, which set to expire at the end of July.<\/p>\n Consiglio says he works for the company PRG, which produces big concert tours and television shows and fan-engagement productions for sporting events. But even as pro sports works out ways to begin competing again, he notes, they\u2019re planning to do it without fans in the seats, so ticket takers and concessions vendors and people involved in fan engagement like him still won\u2019t be returning to work. \u201cI\u2019m laid off right now,” he says, “just like most of the people in my company.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis group of people, they\u2019ve got a special set of circumstances,\u201d Consiglio says. \u201cPhase 1 to 3, a lot of people are able to go back to work. It\u2019s great.\u201d Meanwhile, \u201cthe live events economy is in shambles and there\u2019s no end in sight.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe understand that we have to be safe,\u201d Consiglio says, \u201cbut if you\u2019re going to completely shut down what we do and say people can\u2019t work, there has to be some balance.\u201d<\/p>\n Pictured at top: Mark Consiglio, president of the Boston Chapter of the Live Events Coalition, at some of the productions he’s worked on. (Courtesy)<\/em><\/p>\n If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n All content \u00a9 copyright by Greg Cook or its original creators.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cSince the pandemic started in early to mid-March, we\u2019ve been the first people that have been cancelled and had to refund tickets, people who lost their jobs first,\u201d says Mark Consiglio, president of the Boston Chapter of the Live Events Coalition, which represents about 500 behind-the-scenes folks who produce live shows. \u201cExhibits, conventions, sporting events, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17786,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,100,109,110],"tags":[706,797],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17784"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17784"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17794,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17784\/revisions\/17794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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