Tyler Stafford 
By Riley Hilbert, Nina Galindo-Calvete, and Leilani Quintero
FEB. 1, 2021
During the year of the pandemic, many businesses have been bankrupted and closed down. As a result of the massive nationwide shutdowns, many performing arts venues have lost 90% of their income since much of the revenue comes from ticket sales. The Save Our Stages (SOS) Act is a bill introduced to the Congress that will include financial assistance for a total of $10 billion for small venues. The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) hosted an event called Save Our Stages Fest, in an effort to raise money to help protect these venues.
On October 16-18, many different artists performed for the SOSFest. NIVA has partnered with YouTube to raise awareness and collect donations to the NIVA Emergency Relief Fund for this case. This 3-day virtual music festival has donated over $1.8 million from around the country to NIVA. In addition to raising more than $1.8 million, it also helped congressmen and women from all over the country to become more aware of the issue. A major part of the event was to make congressmen and women from around the country more conscious of the effect COVID 19 has had on these venues.
The Broward Center for Performing Arts hosted Sebastian Yatra, a Columbian artist based in Miami, who performed for this event. Jan Goodheart, the VP of external affairs at the Broward Center, said “the recording went smoothly, the artist was very happy with the experience and the Broward Center, and the fans who got to see him perform felt like they were at a live event.” This event was a great success at the Broward Center and for many other venues. To rewatch Sebastian Yatra’s performance and all the other performances go to https://www.saveourstages.com/sos-fest.
NIVA is still continuing to collect donations for the NIVA Emergency Relief Fund but most importantly, raise more awareness. They also reach out to more senators and representatives by giving individuals the option to contact them and give their opinion. The overall effort would be considered a great success if the SOS Act was enacted to help fund the live music industry and venues around the world.
