Over 50 Welsh venues and locations will light up in red, whilst shafts of white lights are beamed across 7 areas of Wales, to highlight the crisis facing the people working in the Welsh events industry. Wales joins 25 counties around the world for the We Make Events Global Day of Action (30 September). Welsh industry professionals make a call to action to government to provide financial support to keep their world-leading sector alive. Cardiff-based artist Nathan Wyburn shines a light on the Wales events industry by creating a digital Welsh flag made up of 500 faces of people working in events industry in Wales
Over 50 venues and locations across Wales joined forces yesterday by lighting up in red to highlight the We Make Events campaign message. Event industry professionals staged one of the brightest light shows seen in the country by lightening up theatres, music venues, arts centres, iconic venues, castles, conference centres and even churches to draw attention to the catastrophe the sector is facing as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Wales joined the UK to shine a total of 60 shafts of white light into the night sky to signify potential job losses – 7 of which were locations in Wales (City Hall and The Roald Dahl Plass, Amlwch in Anglesey, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Venue Cymru in Llandudno, Caldicot Castle and Pontio in Bangor).
In addition to last night’s activity, Cardiff-based artist Nathan Wyburn created a digital collage of the Welsh flag made up from 500 of events people in Wales especially for the Global Day of Action.
Commenting on his latest artwork, Nathan Wyburn said “I’m honoured to have been asked to be part of this campaign, as a proud Welsh artist I’ve often made art that reflects the times, and the Covid-19 pandemic hasn’t been an exception. It’s been heart-breaking for me as a concert and theatre attendee, an events hosts and charity fundraiser to not be able to do any of these things. Many of my friends also work in these industries and have lost their income. I too, lost a lot of mine. I think the artwork of the dragon roars with Welsh pride, but also sadly shows how much talent is currently unable to be used. To think 500 people sent in photos and that’s barely 1% of the people in Wales affected by this… that’s extremely emotional.”
#WeMakeEvents is now calling on governments worldwide to extend significant financial support for the people and companies in the events sector supply chain until they are permitted to run mass participation events and can viably return to work.
Sarah Cole of SC Productions who is the Lead Co-ordinator for We Make Events Cymru Wales says “Everyone in the industry has financial comments – without work we are vulnerable financially and it will have a detrimental effect on peoples mental health.
People have trained a long time to be in this industry, we work incredible long hours and it is suddenly taken away from us. We are looking into a black abyss. There is no work on the horizon. We are not permitted to work by government legislation and jobs are falling daily. For some people there is no financial stability at all and that is going to have a huge impact on people’s mental health. It is heart-breaking that people can’t provide for their families. This is an awful situation for people to be in.”
Sarah continued by saying, “With so many Welsh venues and locations turning red tonight (30/9/20) in support of the campaign it shows just how our industry is in absolute crisis and needs urgent help. There’s been a real sense of togetherness today, something which we as an event family have missed for so many months.”
During yesterday’s We Make Events Cymru Wales campaign efforts, Cardiff’s Music Board issued a stark statement warning of ‘serious consequences’ of Covid-19 for future of live music in Cardiff. The music board is led by the Cardiff Council Leader, Cllr Huw Thomas, who warned “..the scale of the issues facing the live music sector are massive…”
To find out how to support the campaign, please visit www.wemakeevents.com
