In December the American government announced its Save Our Stages Act which is a $16 billion fund to give financial support to music venues, theatres and events.

The Small Business Administration was given responsibility for distributing the funds across the entertainment industry, but according to Variety not a single venue has reported receiving even a penny of government relief.

The Save Our Stages Act was made law five months ago, and it was expected that the money would have been distributed to independent venues before now. Many of the venues in need of the fund are on a count down towards bankruptcy, and the lifeline fund was intended to save those venues before their time runs out. Meaning the delay is a major concern for those who were relying on a government grant.

A representative for the Small Business Administration told Variety: “While there continues to be some fine-tuning of technical components of the program, we expect SVOG Priority 1 (90 per cent revenue loss) awards to tentatively begin next week, kicking off a 14-day priority period. We will then move on to begin processing Priority 2 awards.”

Since the pandemic began, the music industry in the US has faced huge financial issues due to the lockdown forcing venues to temporarily close, or operate at reduced capacity for long periods. As a result profits have dropped and many can no longer afford to pay rent prices or re-employ staff.

Audrey Fix Schaefer from The National Independent Venue Association in America told Variety: “this emergency relief can’t come soon enough for those on the precipice of going under. We’ll be very grateful when the money is distributed as Congress intended. It’s been very hard to hold on, but even tougher to plan for reopening without the money to hire back staff, rent venues and secure acts with deposits.”

H/T: Variety