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Live Nation has set up a new charitable fund to help support concert crews who have found themselves out of work due to the coronavirus epidemic.
The Crew Nation fund was established on Tuesday (March 31) and will provide financial support for affected crew workers, after the pandemic sparked the widespread cancellation of festivals and concerts across the globe.
“Crew members are the backbone of the live music industry, and we hope you’ll join us in supporting them through this temporary intermission until we can once again unite millions around the world through the power of live music,” Live Nation said in a statement.
The new fund aims to provide support to all the backstage staff that are integral in concert production – including production managers, tour managers, sound engineers, lighting directors and many more.
The concert promotion giant has given $10 million to Crew Nation, which is split between a $5 million donation going directly to the fund and another $5 million to match contributions provided by artists, fans and employees dollar-for-dollar.
Live shows are not possible without our crew members behind the scenes. We are helping those workers who need it the most by announcing the #CrewNation Fund. We are donating $10 million: $5M upfront + matching the next $5M. Visit https://t.co/CvaQvd3shg to donate or buy merch now pic.twitter.com/Y3dQjcf40u
— Live Nation (@LiveNation) March 31, 2020
It will be administered by charitable non-profit organisation Music Forward Foundation.
“Concerts wouldn’t be possible without the crew working behind the scenes to bring them to life. To help out live music crews while concerts are on pause, LiveNation has committed $10 million to the #CrewNation,” said Live Nation president and CEO Michael Rapino.
Meanwhile, event production companies usually responsible for building stages at Coachella have now turned their attention to helping build coronavirus triage tents and temporary hospital structures in the US in a bid to combat the deadly disease.
The Indio, California festival was due to be held this year on the weekends of April 10–12 and April 17–19, but on March 10 it was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.Coachella 2020 is now set to be held on October 9–11 and October 16–18.
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