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Prevailing together: '100 Untuk 100' helps event workers survive COVID-19
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Timely help: Andina Putri, 36, a stage manager and single mother based in Malang, East Java, is grateful for the aid she received from "100 Untuk 100" (100 for 100). The initiative is a collaboration between Sounds From The Corner and peer-to-peer wealth distribution platform Bagirata that aims to provide Rp 100 million in cash assistance to 100 event workers. (Personal collection/Courtesy of Andina Putri)
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em>With COVID-19 putting a halt to almost all live events, the industry’s workers have been struggling to make a living. The “100 Untuk 100” (100 for 100) initiative aims to ease their hardships.
Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in March 2020, the live event industry has lain dormant save for intermittent virtual concerts and small events, particularly the music events segment that depends on regular shows.
While live music events were particularly affected, some of the bigger bands and musicians were still able to earn an income from projects for commercial brands, endorsements and the occasional virtual show.
Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for those who work behind the scenes on a single live show: carpenters, prop managers, lighting designers, sound engineers, wardrobe crew members, even stage managers and production directors and dozens of others. Many of these skilled workers had to take on a variety of odd jobs to make ends meet from month to month.
Feldi Arles has been working for more than two years at Tiga Warna Lighting in Batam, where the 28-year-old is part of an effects team that manages the design, installation and operation of visual and special effects for concerts, conferences, weddings and other live events. He normally works on at least six events per month, but he could go for three months without a single event during the pandemic. The events that did turn up were usually virtual ones that required minimal lighting and effects.
The situation forced Feldi, who has a 9-year-old daughter, to do all sorts of jobs so he and his family could survive.
