NEW ORLEANS — The tables were draped, and the stage was set, but an event Tuesday at Mardi Gras World on the banks of the Mississippi River in New Orleans was missing everything else.
“So many people in our industry are suffering,” said Diane Lyons an event producer at Accent on Arrangements.
Known as “Save Live Events” the purpose of this non-event event is to bring attention to event and hospitality workers who’ve been out of work for more than seven months now.
“It’s been devastating,” said Joe Diamond who worked for Maloney Productions, a full-service decorating company. Furloughed March 17th, he was hoping to be back to work by mid-June.
“I don’t even know if I have a job to go back to yet,” said Diamond.
That’s a concern he worries could turn into reality.
“I’ve never seen it this bad in the 30 years I’ve been in the special event industry,” said Diamond.
“This time of year we would be rocking and rolling,” said Craig Swiber, a former production director at Royal Production.
Swiber says the company he worked for would normally be doing ten to twelve events a month right now, but once the pandemic hit events started canceling.
“In a very short period of time we went from a very full calendar to no events hardly whatsoever,” said Swiber.
In fact, the calendar is clear for the rest of 2020. So is Diamond’s. His next scheduled event isn’t until November of 2021.
“It may not even happen,” said Diamond.
“We are the indivisible industry,” said Lyons. “When you rent a venue like this it doesn’t come with tables and chairs and linens and lighting, that’s what event producers do.”
Lyons says Congress needs to step up and help the industry for it to survive.
“The airlines have asked for support, the hotel and restaurants, but we are individual business owners and gig workers and we need help as well,” said Lyons.
Help these workers hope will give them a seat, back at the economic table.
Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser says the state is in the process of rolling out the “Sunshine Plan” which is designed to reenergize tourism across the state.
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