COVID-19 and the Coast's Creative Community

All

18 Mar

We are finding ourselves in extremely hard and uncertain times, and our thoughts are with the broader arts community who are currently facing enormously difficult decisions and realities. At present the Sunshine Coast Creative Alliance have postponed our upcoming events and are closely monitoring changes in the current situation and adapting accordingly. This is uncharted territory, we are all learning together and need to remember to be kind.How You Can HelpNAVA is working closely with national peak organisations as well as state and federal ministries and government departments to understand these impacts and represent them in detail, so that government at all levels is in the best position to consider urgent policy and funding responses. Take their survey here.Event cancellations and postponements across Australia are having unprecedented impacts on the creative industries. If you have been affected by lost work as a result of COVID-19, I Lost My Gig are currently pulling together information from artists, performers, producers, hospitality workers, managers and anyone who has lost work. If this is you, take their survey here.PAC Australia are also urgently requesting venues across the country provide initial data to inform the sector-wide call to government for emergency funding. The survey also allows us to track the number of venues who are entering into a shut-down. Take the survey here.Here are some other ways to help your creative community:

For those of us fortunate enough to have a steady source of income not affected by COVID-19, support local small businesses and freelancers who have been impacted financially. Buy from them, book them for services, share their work online
If you have tickets for an event that has been cancelled, consider donating the money back to the organisation. In many cases all artists, producers and crew will still be paid, so companies are experiencing huge losses.

At the Sunshine Coast Creative Alliance we are currently looking at creative ways to promote and support artists and creatives including the potential online delivery of some activities and events. We look forward to sharing more about this when we can.

Sue, Megan, Catherine, Judy, Jess, Kate, Phil, Holly, Liz and BettinaBoard and Executive Officer, Sunshine Coast Creative Alliance

Feature image by the brilliant Luke John Matthew Arnold, check out more of his work on his website or Instagram.