It’s been just over three months since the entertainment industry was turned upside down and the cancellation of events shocked the nation. During this time, it was announced Support Act would receive a $10 million COVID-19 response from the Federal Government. CEO Clive Miller and the Support Act team have seen a drastic increase (700%) in demand since the coronavirus pandemic.
“That announcement was made in April, the Australian Government advised through the Office For The Arts that they would be allocating $10 million to assist us to extendt and amplify our services.” Explained Miller.
“We received that money in mid-May, which was really fantastic. And the way we’ve allocated that is essentially it’s a bit over 60% to support our Crisis Relief program and then a little under 30% to our Wellbeing Helpline service and the mental health promotion activities that we have now and are looking to develop over coming months. And then the balance going to enable us to scale up a little bit from a staffing perspective, because we’re such a small organisation that getting a big shot in the arm like we did is fantastic.”
After only two months, the organisation had big name artists and organisations contributions and fundraising events, like Powderfinger’s One Night Lonely and the Isol-Aid live streamed series. Support Act had approved nearly $500,000 in crisis funding by this time, with more contributions to come.
“It’s making a huge impact, given suddenly the economic uncertainty that all of us are facing we were unsure whether people would be in a position to provide any support for people in the music industry, who are struggling.” Said Miller.
“I was just actually looking at a list of some of the things that different artists and different organisations have been doing. We’ve had everything from Music From The Home Front, which is generated so much awareness and lots of donations. And we’ve been a beneficiary of merchandise and other income from them.”
The team at Insider is blown away by the support shown for the industry during this time and so thankful for the work Support Act is doing. You can still donate and support the live music industry and its workers by visiting https://supportact.org.au/give-help/.