Live Performance Australia issues COVIDSafe guidelines for venues

Confused about COVIDSafe guidelines for gigs? Live Performance Australia has all the background.

The trade body this week posted industry guidelines to help venues as they prepare to emerge from the months-long lockdown.

The various steps are contained in three documents, and have been developed with industry input, in consultation with the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, and reviewed by medicos.

“These guidelines have been reviewed by medical experts and will help our industry understand what they need to do to keep our performing arts venues and workplaces safe,” comments LPA CEO Evelyn Richardson.

The guidelines cover auditions, rehearsals and performances, plus touring of live performances.

Also, the “Performing Arts Connections (PAC) Australia guidelines for COVID Safe Theatres,” originally issued in June, have also been revised and updated.

The documents as a whole, Richardson explains, pave the way “for reopening venues and bringing our live performance industry back to life in the months ahead.”

Evelyn Richardson

A set of guidelines for shows at the top end, from large concerts to music festivals, are being developed through the Live Entertainment Industry Forum (LEIF), a working group comprised of stakeholders from music and sports, assembled to safely guide those industries out of hibernation and bring back jobs, fans and punters.

The guidelines are published as the federal government announces details of its $75 million fund to help “reactivate” the arts and entertainment sector, part of the quarter-billion-dollar COVID-19 Creative Economy Support Package announced back in June, following months of protracted talks with LPA and other industry groups.

Outside of Melbourne and the hotspots blowing up in NSW, socially-distanced concerts are now part of the landscape in Brisbane and elsewhere.

With a certain amount of luck, more concerts will roll out in the weeks ahead.

Bigsound returns to the Queensland capital on 21st and 22nd October, and the Great Southern Nights project will see 1,000 gigs play out across NSW this November (venues wishing to apply for GSN have until this Friday, 14th August).

Just last week, the West Australian government unveiled a $76 million arts and culture package, including $15 million set aside for a “Getting the Show back on the Road” shared risk package to support the reactivation of live shows across the state.

According to estimates reported by the federal government, Australia’s live music industry supports over 175,000 Australian jobs and contributes an estimated $150 billion to the national economy.

View the “Guidelines for Auditions, Rehearsals and Performances” here. View the “Touring Guidelines” here and check out the updated version of the “PAC Australia Guidelines for COVID Safe Theatres” here.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.