Allied Arts aims to support musicians during trying times including this Family Day

Vermilion Allied Arts Council shared upcoming Family Day virtual performances by the International Children’s Festival of the Arts (ICFA). On Monday, February 15, ICFA will combine comedy, magic, music and dance – airing three shows on Zoom for anyone to watch.

“If you are a patron of the arts, Allied Arts would like to encourage you to seek out and support musicians during this time,” said President Pat Calyniuk.

Performances will include Sangea Academy’s Reckie Lloyd (11 am), Alex Zerbie’s Zaniac Show (1 pm) and The Magic of Sheldon Casavant (3pm). Links for the three virtual shows can be found at https://stalbert.ca/exp/childfest/

“Our season has been postponed to the fall of 2021. We are hoping by then that we will be able to offer our season,” said Calyniuk.

In the mean time, they are encouraging people to support the Canadian Live Music Association’s #ForTheLoveOfLIVE campaign in support of all of the people in the music industry who are currently out of work due to the pandemic.

Canadian Live Music (CLM) states that prior to COVID, the Canadian live music industry provided 72,000 jobs and contributed approximately $3 billion to the national GDP. Since then, they have seen an average 92 per cent revenue loss.

“They definitely need some financial support online as in person venues are closed,” said Calyniuk.

CLM said 114,400 workers (from arts, entertainment and recreation) lost their jobs last year. Over 75 prominent music venues permanently closed their doors, and in Toronto alone $99 million in gross provincial production was lost due to music venues being shut down.

They say the amount of stress and anxiety in the industry has tripled, so to find ways on how to support them including reaching out to your MP, you can visit https://canadianlivemusic.ca