On Tuesday, Sept. 1, Reno participated in the national “Paint Our Town Red” event sponsored by National RESTART Act. The event, which painted local businesses and area attractions with red light, is a campaign to bring attention to the live event industry’s attempts to receive funds from the RESTART Act.
Millions of industry workers have been affected during national shutdowns, including artists, musicians, dancers, theater performers and behind the scenes workers.
On the local level, Artown was working in conjunction with area groups such as the Peppermill, Starsound Audio and IATSE Local 363 to promote the event. IATSE, which provides “labor for the Reno Events Center, Pioneer Theater for The Performing Arts, Grand Sierra Theatre, Lawlor Events Center, Sand Harbor, Nugget Amphitheater and countless other live event venues” has seen a massive reduction in work for union stagehand employees.
The Peppermill also has faced massive reductions and elimination of most live events.
Cody Garner, lead idea engineer at the Peppermill, told This Is Reno, “We are just kinda doing this to get people to realize the AV industry was one of the first to go down during ‘Shutdown America,’ and we are probably going to be the last in.” Garner said the industry is in limbo while attempting to figure out if it will be going to all streaming events or be able to eventually return to live performance.
Thousands of buildings, national landmarks and monuments were painted red with light from 9pm to midnight across the country in support of the industry and its workers.
