Local business Hollywood Monster, have printed a huge Open Letter to the Chancellor to ask for support for the events industry to get back on its feet. Businesses have been voicing their concerns that the events industry needs to be prioritised and are asking the government to help them open safely and get back to business to prevent further job losses and closures.
Tomorrow morning West Midlands Mayor Andy Street will be at their Tyseley depot in support of the event industry and other businesses that support the sector such as Hollywood Monster.
They will be unveiling a mammoth banner that covers the entire car park to highlight the staff that would usually be there, working on printing large formats for the events industry. Revenue has dropped by 50% resulting in many staff still on furlough and some now redundant. However, they are still in a better position than venues up and down the country that have seen zero revenue since lockdown andfelt the devastating impact on staff and income.
hollywood monster
Tim Andrews, Chairman of Hollywood Monster says, “If the government do not act now, we face another 600,000 people losing their jobs. We cannot let this happen. We need to come together and lobby the government to let venues open safely and protect our economy.
“Many businesses are frustrated by the logic behind the government’s decisions, you’re able to sit on a flight for 8 hours but you cannot sit in a social distanced theatre for a couple of hours that has implemented covid precautions. It’s the 11th hour and the government needs to act now.”
Whilst the government has helped the hospitality sector in a small way, the conferences and events industry still have not had such support. Yesterday, Chancellor Rishi Sunak suggested that people in all walks of like should look to find new opportunities as he declined to provide further support for struggling workers during the Coronavirus crisis.
Many have been left unable to work because of the mass shutdown, and widespread redundancies mean that the talent force won’t be so buoyant for future events. Events staff are the lifeline to pulling off future events, especially massively important ones like the Commonwealth Games, but if we lose world class talent to other sectors, its success could well be put it in jeopardy.
Photocall: 9.30am at Hollywood Monster,
The Studios, Redfern Parkway, Tyseley, Birmingham B11 2RF
https://hollywoodmonster.co.uk/
Interviewees: Tim Andrews and Andy Street are available for interview
