Small Business Administration Hopes to Re-Open SVOG Applications This Week

As BroadwayWorld reported earlier this month, The Small Business Administration was forced to halt its opening day for COVID-19 grants for theaters and live venues due to technical difficulties. Now, almost two weeks later, SBA has revealed that they hope to fix the crashed website by the end of this week.

SBA tweeted to following statement on Friday, April 16: "Over the next few days, our tech team and vendors will remain focused on testing the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant application portal; it will not reopen this weekend. We are aiming to reopen the portal by the end of next week. We know this funding is urgently needed now and are doing all we can to reopen with the greatest amount of certainty as possible. As we've shared, after our vendors fixed the root cause of the initial tech issues, more in-depth risk analysis and stress tests identified other issues that impact application performance. The vendors are quickly addressing and mitigating them and working tirelessly with our team so the application portal can reopen ASAP and we can deliver this critical aid. We have and will continue to engage with stakeholders on the applicant experience and will continue to share updates regularly. Again, applicants will have advance notice so they can be best prepared."

A document was released earlier this month that answers frequently asked questions about the SVOG program. These will be updated as new information comes available and additional program details are finalized. Answers span topics including eligibility and qualifications for movie theaters, museums, and live venues. View the full document here.

The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program is Section 324 of the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits and Venues Act (Economic Aid Act) signed into law on Dec. 27, 2020, and was part of H.R. 133 Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.