“There Is No Support”: Alex Lahey Pleads For The Government To Help The Music Industry
"We are now facing the risk of the disappearance of our arts industry."
Alex Lahey has penned an open letter calling on the Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews, to assist the decimated Australian music industry following the coronavirus outbreak.
The effect that the coronavirus has had on the industry has been staggering. International and national tours and festivals have been cancelled and postponed, putting musicians, event managers, PR companies, photographers, sound mixers, roadies and bouncers out of a gig.
The website I Lost My Gig is attempting to tally the amount of revenue devastated by the coronavirus — at the time of writing, it looks like $100 million has been wiped from the industry. And that’s just based on the current response to the coronavirus pandemic; that number will obviously climb the longer that life is disrupted.
In her letter, Lahey notes that she has been put out of work “for the remainder of the year” and possibly even beyond.
“My team and I now do not have any foreseeable income to pay our rents, our mortgages, our bills and support our families,” Lahey has written in the letter. “Whilst initiatives have been put in place to provide financial stimulus through tax incentives and some employers have moved towards providing support for their casualised workforce, people like myself do not qualify for the latter and have to wait far too long for the former.”
From there, Lahey calls on Andrews to make a direct and immediate contribution to the arts sector.
“We are now facing the risk of the disappearance of our arts industry and something has to be done to prevent that from happening,” Alex Lahey writes. “I hope we can work towards a prompt and sustainable response to get us through this uncertain time. I certainly have plenty of time on my hands to put towards it.”
It remains to be seen what — if any — support that the Victorian state government will provide to its musicians.