Auburn Hills, MI, April 26, 2020 — George P. Johnson Experience Marketing (GPJ) has partnered with Freeman to unite live events leaders from across the United States to announce the formation of Go LIVE Together, a coalition of 80 founding partners—representing over 4,000 companies with U.S. operations—who have joined forces to support legislative actions that will aid our industry’s recovery from COVID-19.
Chris Meyer, CEO of GPJ, puts the industry’s impact into perspective, “Let’s look at a simple metric like hotel rooms – we book more than 12 million rooms each year through GPJ. When you consider that revenue, those taxes, and the supporting jobs for just that one small piece of the live events picture, you start to get in an idea of our industry’s impact.”
“While our concern is first and foremost supporting the suppression and mitigation efforts around COVID-19, live events will be an integral part of accelerating the U.S. and global economic recovery,” says Bob Priest-Heck, CEO of Freeman. “Protecting the industry means protecting key economic and social drivers that not only impact jobs today, but also the development of the next generation of businesses.”
Go LIVE Together is focused on preparing for U.S. local, state, and federal recovery legislation. This group will advocate for funds to offset the added costs of hosting an event post COVID-19, and for funds to incent people to attend live events when it is safe to do so.
Events serve as a massive incubator for innovation and economic growth. Advocating for recovery funding will be essential – not only to the events industry – but to the healing and recovery efforts of the global economy, because:
- Live events contribute nearly $1 trillion to the U.S. economy annually, with events touching every major sector that makes up the U.S. GDP.
- In 2019, the events industry employed 3 million workers directly, with a total impact of close to 7 million jobs.
- The live events industry employs millions of union workers, general laborers, strategists, marketers, concession stand workers, entertainers, riggers, project managers, and more.
- Over 80 percent of the companies that serve the live events industry are small, with many being women and minority-owned businesses.
Please join our efforts in advocating for what we all already know to be true — nothing in the world will ever replace the power and the need for live events.
Let’s Go LIVE Together! #GoLiveTogether
For more information on the founding partners and the coalition visit www.golivetogether.com.
About Go LIVE Together
Go LIVE Together comprises a coalition of 80 founding partners representing over 4,000 companies with operations in the U.S. and 112 other countries. The coalition has assembled to ensure that, when the health crisis is over, the voices and concerns of the live events industry are addressed in local, state, and federal recovery funding related to COVID-19. The live events industry is a diverse, valuable, and vibrant ecosystem that contributes nearly $1 trillion to the U.S. economy and employs millions of workers. Visit golivetogether.com to learn more and support this initiative. Engage with us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn using #GoLiveTogether.