COVINGTON, Ky. — The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted each industry, especially live entertainment.
This includes production companies that spend hours setting up behind the scenes, like Mac Productions in Northern Kentucky.
“By no fault of our own, this pandemic came about and just totally, just transformed the industry and made nose dive almost,” said Quinn McMurtry, director of sales.
The past six months have turned things upside down for the live event industry; however, Mac Productions is finding ways around the virus.
“During this period of time, it’s been either do something different or just wait it out, and we’re doing both. We’re waiting it out and doing something different,” McMurtry said.
McMurtry says they’ve pivoted to hosting virtual events.
Up until the start of the coronavirus, this production team put together massive corporate events for conferences and meetings across the country.
“It’s been a terrible time for us all, and we’ve had to cut back a number of vital staff members that we’ve used for live events,” McMurtry said. “Typically, right now we’ve furloughed everyone, so we plan on bringing everyone back we can, and that’s our ultimate plan.”
The live event industry is calling on Congress to take action. At least three bills in both the House and Senate have been introduced, among those is one called "Save our Stages."
The bill creates grants made available for live venue operators, producers, promoters, or talent representatives to address the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on live venues.
“When you look at the acts in Congress, you know, we’re more than just a production company. We’re a group of people that have families and kids and, you know, we’re living our lives,” McMurtry said.
Mac Productions hopes to return to live events once the pandemic has lifted. But until then, they will continue with virtual or hybrid events.