Industry Advocacy

IAVM has worked to ease the burden on venue managers by making sure Congress included venues in federal relief and recovery packages that were enacted late in 2020 and implemented in 2021.  That would include:

 

  • The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP): IAVM secured under the PPP a new covered category under Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) for nonprofit venues that are quasi-governmental and derive much of their operations budgets from revenues derived from live events.

 

  • Shuttered Venues Operator Grant (SVOG) Program: In that same legislation, we sought and won eligibility for a wider range of venues and venue operators, including government-owned venues in this $16+ billion grant program created for shuttered venues, independent movie theaters and cultural institutions.  IAVM Members were awarded almost a $1 billion SVOG funds

 

  • SVOG Implementation: The work didn’t stop once it was signed into law.  During SVOG’s implementation in the spring and summer, IAVM stayed in close contact with the congressional SBA oversight committees to ensure that our venues didn’t fall through the cracks from grant application reviewers.   SBA also included IAVM in its weekly stakeholder organization updates and discussions on SVOG implementation.

IAVM ADVOCACY:

 

Emails sent regarding advocacy 57
VenueNet posts regarding advocacy 69
TLS Calls 44
VenueConnect Session 1
Industry Affairs Committee Monthly Call 11
Advocacy webinars 5
Calls for letters 1
Collaborations with other Associations ECA, APAP, NIVA, Iowa Arts Council, ESCA, IAEE
SVOG Stakeholder Calls 30
SVOG Emails for specific venues 20
Emails/Calls with individual venues/venue managers for SVOG criteria and implementation 800
Emails/Calls with Universities group of venue managers, finance officers and government relations staff for SVOG criteria 60
Strategy calls with TLS 50
Federal/State Calls without TLS 5
Emails/Calls for ticketing legislation 30
Emails/Calls for State Legislation/Funding 40
Group Emails/Calls with members for various other advocacy – NIACS code, SOS Extension, Convention Center attempts at funding 100
MIC Coalition IAVM members contributed to the creation of new Congressional education

Congressional Contact Information

Senate Contacts

House of Representatives Contacts