The Events and Entertainment Industry is disproportionately affected by this Pandemic.

We were the first industry to shut down in March and we will be the last to return. Cirque du Soleil, one of world's most reputable Arts organizations, just cut 3,500 additional jobs and filed for bankruptcy. Broadway has announced it will not reopen until Jan 2021, setting a grim standard for the rest of the industry.

We are mostly middle class workers who are not typically eligible for regular unemployment benefits because we qualify as self-employed freelancers. The rent, inexplicably, remains due. Bills need to be paid. Even those of us that are eligible for regular benefits cannot survive on the base unemployment rate in our state.

We are not willing to wait for it to expire on July 26. Write your legislators to urge them to support the arts in COVID-19 relief legislation as soon as they return to DC on July 20.

More information at ExtendPua.org.