Small music venues ask Congress for special consideration in coronavirus aid

In an open letter to Congress sent Wednesday, National Independent Venue Association Board President Dayna Frank requested that independent venues have special consideration in acquiring Paycheck Protection Program loans to cover expenses during the coronavirus pandemic, reports Billboard.
More than 800 U.S. venues are members of the association, including the historic Orpheum Theater in Flagstaff, Arizona, and comedy club The Stand NYC.
The letter asks for the PPP to include industry-specific provisions, like increasing its loan cap to cover multiple venue locations and allowing tax relief for refunded tickets. "Our businesses were among the first to close as COVID-19 spread across the country and, unfortunately, are also likely to be among the last to reopen," the letter reads.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Frank, who owns a music venue in Minneapolis, says the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in ticket refunds for more than 100,000 concerts. She argued the importance of small venue stages not only in local communities but also in the music industry as a whole. "The world could be without the next Lady Gaga, Kenny Chesney, Chance the Rapper, or Bruce Springsteen if we cease to exist," Frank wrote.
Members of the music industry have also turned to other measures to get by. Rather than waiting for federal relief funding, artists like Moksha Sommer have sought aid from nonprofits like MusiCares, which launched March 17 and has already raised more than $10 million, Billboard reports. Sommer is one of 9,000 who received a one-time aid check of $1,000. Sommer said the funding will help her pay bills and plan for the future, but Frank told congressional leaders the industry at large is in dire need of a larger "lifeline." Read more at Billboard.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclub
Speed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's ills
Speed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, Stallone
Speed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's view
Speed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talk
Speed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'
Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposes
speed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wife
speed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play