LongIsland.com

Suozzi Helps Get Funds for Live-Entertainment Venues and Restaurants in New York in COVID-19 Relief Package

Written by Long Island  |  29. December 2020

Under the relief package, the Paycheck Protection Program will be revised to better support independent restaurants with their payroll expenses and $15 billion in targeted Small Business Administration grants for the live-entertainment industry.

Earlier this summer, Suozzi and local restaurants and live-entertainment venues across Long Island rallied together to call for any future COVID-19 relief package to include direct, targeted relief for the entertainment and restaurant industry. These efforts were ultimately heard by Congressional leadership.

“On March 22 non-essential businesses in New York shut down. The reopening and recovery of businesses has been uneven ever since.” said Suozzi. “Independently owned live entertainment venues, restaurants, as well as musicians, actors, comedians, promoters, and stagehands, have been financially devastated by the pandemic. Today’s passage of a COVID-19 relief package that offers relief to live-entertainment venues and restaurants provides a renewed life to the stages that bring so much culture and joy to our community. We can’t let the music die.”

“Today is a day of relief for independently owned live venues, and we owe Congressman Tom Suozzi a great debt of gratitude for the attention he gave us, his ongoing support of and increasing the profile of the Save Our Stages Act. The inclusion of SOS in the most recent COVID relief bill will give us the ability to continue to weather the pandemic induced mandated shut down. We were the first to close, and we will be the last to open, and without SOS, the live entertainment industry as we know it would have been decimated,” said Kevin O’Neill, The John Engeman Theatre.

“Landmark on Main Street deeply appreciates Congressman Suozzi’s advocacy and persistence in making the Save Our Stages Bill a reality. This financial shot in the arm will keep us going until the actual shots in the arm allow us to welcome back our artists and audiences,” said Laura Mogul, Executive Director, Landmark on Main Street

“It’s a Great Day for the Arts in America! Thank you to Congressman Suozzi and everyone who helped to make the Save our Stages Act a reality! The Paramount and stages across the country will soon once again vibrate with the energy of great artists and great concert goers alike,” The Paramount, Huntington.

Restaurants and live entertainment venues were one of the first businesses to close at the outset of the pandemic and will be some of the last to fully reopen. According to a bi-county study released earlier this year by Nassau and Suffolk County on the economic impacts of COVID-19, the hospitality and entertainment industry lost 82,000 jobs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is more than any other industry on Long Island. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Suozzi has relentlessly called for support of this industry.

 

Copyright © 1996-2024 LongIsland.com & Long Island Media, Inc. All rights reserved.