VIDEO: Find Out How YOU Can Be an #ArtsHero on Backstage with Richard Ridge

Did you know that the arts sector employs 5.2 million workers and contributing 4.1% to pre-pandemic GDP? Unfortunately, the industry experienced some of the harshest effects from COVID. During the pandemic's peak, 63% of creative workers experienced unemployment, and 95% lost creative income.

Earlier this week, Congress held a historic hearing in the Small Business Committee surveying the current state of the creative industry and its overall impact on the American economy. The hearing gathered artists and creative workers led by Carson Elrod, co-founder of Be An #ArtsHero/Arts Workers United, to testify on the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their industry and ways that Congress can better support the creative economy moving forward.

"We can't let the human infrastructure of our creative economy vanish into other industries or worse. The loss to our families, our culture, our communities, future generations, and the economy would be incalculable," said Carson Elrod. "Arts workers should be the backbone of our post-COVID recovery."

Below, watch as Elrod chats with Richard Ridge about what went down at the hearing and find out how you too can be an #ArtsHero.