Event industry professionals join together to ‘Light it in Red’

Music venues, theatres, and their workforce joined together to paint the town red this week in honour of We Make Events latest campaign Light it in Red, which aims to highlight the crisis currently facing the live events sector if more support isn’t provided by government.

Over 300 venues including Wembley Stadium, London’s National Theatre, Royal Festival Hall, Birmingham Repertory and the Tate Modern all turned their buildings red in solidarity with their live events peers. The Red Alert campaign and #WeMakeEvents initiative was set up to raise awareness of the huge threat that the current Covid-19 crisis is having on the industry, with job losses looming for many events professionals unless further financial support is delivered.

The Royal Albert Hall explained on its Twitter account that it was supporting the campaign because “many livelihoods across the industry are now at stake”.

In Manchester, hundreds of out-of-work crew took part in a silent march past many of the city’s closed venues, whilst similar shows of support took place in Liverpool and Bristol.

The government last month announced a £1.57bn support package aimed at saving theatres, galleries and museums although a large cloud still looms over the thousands of freelancers working in the industry, many of whom have not been eligible for the furlough scheme.

The Professional Light and Sound Association (PLASA), which organised the initiative, said: “Our industry includes a huge supply chain ranging from production, audio, lighting and video, to logistics, planning, transportation, and some of the world’s leading technology manufacturers.

“Without additional support for the supply chain, the UK is in danger of losing its global position as a world leader in world class events. Moreover, all of our incredible creatives and technicians could lose their livelihoods for good.”