I LOST MY GIG AUSTRALIA

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WHO ARE WE?

I Lost My Gig Australia (ILMG) is an initiative of the Australian Festivals Association (AFA) and the Australian Music Industry Network (AMIN).  ILMG was established as a short-term quick response data capture project to quantify the immediate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Australia’s live event and entertainment industries. 

It was clear early on that this worldwide emergency was going to hit arts and events workers especially hard. These are people working across a number of interlocking industries - largely sole traders, casuals and contractors - who often live gig-to-gig and rely on bringing people together for their livelihoods. They include:

• artists, 
• managers, 
• production crew, 
• technical workers, 
• venue operators and workers, 
• festival operators, 
• booking and ticketing agencies, 
• marketing and promotions companies, 
• music press outlets 
• and a broad range of other related businesses and sole traders.

Now our live event communities are staring down their toughest ever challenge, and we are here to help make sure that this challenge is not ignored by governments’ crisis responses.

Inspired by the Austin Texas initiative of the same name, ILMG seeks to bring together the hard data and thousands of stories of live events workers suddenly set adrift, and take them to government to press for action. ILMG also aims to ensure that relevant, up-to-date information and resources are widely available for impacted people and businesses. 

While ILMG may have started as a live music sector initiative, it became obvious very quickly that the struggles faced by the music industry are shared by so many other in the creative industries and those who work across industries, so we opened it up to make sure no one was falling through the cracks.

WHAT ARE WE DOING? 

We are tallying the total income lost, the number of jobs lost and the number of live event and entertainment industry workers impacted. 

We are collecting and sharing the stories behind the numbers; the individual hardships that together paint a picture of a community in crisis. These accounts and statistics will be vital as we continue to press the case for government intervention.

Image above: Paigge Warton