DOTHAN, Ala.— To help with the number of shows being canceled, the Save Our Stages grant, part of the COVID-19 relief bill is available for entertainment venues, and promoters to them get through the pandemic.
Being a part of a local municipality, the Dothan Opera House and Civic Center cannot apply for the funds.
The performing arts director would like to see the funds go toward something else.
“I would really like for those funds to go to the personnel, let individuals that work in this industry as a stagehand, as a security person, as a ticket taker or usher or performers to be able to go to that fund of money and be able to apply for it,” said Marshall Perry, performing arts director for the Dothan Opera House and Civic Center.
So how can places not a part of a municipality apply for these funds to help their employees?
“For those types of funds, I believe you have to be a registered organization with the IRS with a designated classification like a 501(C)(3) so you’d need to utilize that to be able to access those funds,” Perry said.
According to Perry, the entertainment industry has been hit hard by the virus.
Perry said that scheduling events in Dothan has been difficult.
“We’ve kind of just been working with everybody as best we can to try to find them a date on our calendar that would work and also have an event that made sense as far as the COVID-19 virus,” Perry said.
