🗞IN THE NEWS | "Creatives in Need of Funding Say the District Failed Them Twice" - WCP

January 25, 2021 The Advoc8te

Michelle Busch. Credit: Christopher A. Dixon

The $29.5 million Entertainment Bridge Fund is split into two parts: the Venues Program, which closed to applications on Jan. 11 and is meant to help arts venues pay rent or mortgage, taxes, and utilities costs, among others, and the Supporting Businesses Program, which closes Jan. 22 and is meant for businesses that don’t own their own venues but still depend on live events, like event planners and promoters, photographers, performing artists, audio engineers, equipment rental companies, and some dance and theater companies. Sole proprietors of small businesses are specifically marked as eligible—with a caveat. Many of the people named as possible grantees of the Supporting Businesses Program were also eligible for the CARES Act-authorized PUA. And, the D.C. government says, anyone who was eligible for or drew PUA is not eligible for the Bridge Fund, leaving countless people in the entertainment industry frustrated and confused.

by EMMA SARAPPO and AMANDA MICHELLE GOMEZ / WASHINGTON CITY PAPER