Page 31 - ARUBA TODAY

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PEOPLE & ARTS Saturday 21 March 2020
Netflix establishes $100 million virus relief fund

By LYNN ELBER million each to the SAG-AF-
AP Television Writer TRA Covid-19 Disaster Fund,
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Netflix the Motion Picture and
said Friday it is establishing Television Fund and the Ac-
a $100 million relief fund for tors Fund Emergency Assis-
workers in the worldwide tance in the United States,
creative community af- and $1 million between the
fected by the coronavirus- Fondation des Artistes and
caused halt of most film the AFC, formerly known as
and television production. the Actors' Fund of Cana-
"This community has sup- da.
ported Netflix through the Elsewhere, including Eu-
good times, and we want rope, Latin America and
to help them through these Asia, Netflix is coordinating
hard times, especially while with industry organizations
governments are still figur- to create similar relief ef-
ing out what economic forts, Sarandos said, with
support they will provide," announcements planned
Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief next week on funding those
creative officer, said in a efforts.
statement. "What's happening is un-
The majority of the fund will precedented," he said. "We
support hard-hit crews on are only as strong as the
Netflix's own productions This June 24, 2015, file photo, shows the Netflix Apple TV app icon, in South Orange, N.J. people we work with and
around the world, Sarandos Associated Press Netflix is fortunate to be
said, and will supplement able to help those hardest
the two weeks of pay the the entertainment industry to The Hollywood Reporter. Netflix fund will be distrib- hit in our industry through
company already agreed without jobs, he said. The publication cited cor- uted to "third parties and this challenging time."
to pay the cast and crew More than 120,000 jobs respondence to mem- nonprofits providing emer- Efforts to contain the spread
on suspended productions. have been lost by mem- bers from the International gency relief to out-of-work of the coronavirus have left
Electricians, carpenters bers of IATSE, the Interna- Cinematographers Guild crew and cast in the coun- the entertainment industry
and drivers, who largely tional Alliance of Theatrical and Motion Picture Editors tries where we have a large reeling, with the suspen-
are paid hourly wages and Stage Employees that rep- Guild. production base," accord- sion of most productions,
work on a project-to-proj- resents cinematographers, In an effort to support the ing to Sarandos' statement. closures of movie theaters
ect basis, are among the editors, production design- broader film and television In the U.S. and Canada, and Broadway plays and
hundreds of thousands in ers and others, according industry, $15 million of the Netflix said it will donate $1 concert postponements. q

The Grand Ole Opry to play on in an empty theater

By KRISTIN M. HALL continued. This Saturday, urday night."
AP Entertainment Writer country artists Brad Paisley, For most people, the new
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Vince Gill and Marty Stuart coronavirus causes only
The Grand Ole Opry, the will perform acoustically to mild or moderate symp-
longest running radio show an empty theater, but the toms, such as fever and
in history, is playing on show will air live on televi- cough. For some, especial-
through the coronavirus sion. ly older adults and people
outbreak by returning to its The performance will air on with existing health prob-
roots. the Circle, a network that lems, it can cause more se-
The country music institu- is a joint venture between vere illness, including pneu-
tion, which has been airing the Opry Entertainment monia.
Saturday nights for 94 years, Group and Gray Television. The vast majority of people
is set to broadcast live on Fans can also watch the recover from the new virus.
television this week in front performance on the Opry's Dan Rogers, vice president
of an empty venue. The YouTube page. and executive producer of
show was originally aired Stuart, a Grand Ole Opry the Opry, said it is follow-
without a live audience member, will be playing by ing safe distance recom-
in its early days in 1925 on himself on stage with just mendations among the
WSM, the AM station in his guitar and mandolin, crew and artists to prevent This undated file photo shows The Grand Ole Opry, the longest
Nashville, Tennessee, that without the Opry's normal the spread of the virus continuously running radio show in the world, at the Grand Ole
still airs the radio broadcast backing band. and cleaning the venue Opry House in Nashville, Tenn.
every Saturday. "We are at a point in the na- and equipment as recom- Associated Press
Normally the show is per- tion (when) people need mended by health officials.
formed live in front of an hope," Stuart told The As- The Opry is believed to only a curfew. The Opry con- we're all in the middle of
audience of about 4,400 sociated Press. "They need have canceled one Satur- tinued broadcasting even now is universal as well. So
people at its current home, something to take their day night performance in after the Opry House was hopefully we can touch
the Opry House, but the minds off what the news is its history — in 1968 when flooded in 2010. a lot of a people. Maybe
coronavirus forced the telling us every time we turn the assassination of the "Country music has been someone will laugh Satur-
Opry to close its doors to on the news. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. thought to be universal," day night. Maybe some-
the public last Saturday That's what country music in Memphis caused the Rogers said. "And these body will hear a lyric that re-
while the radio broadcast does. It was made for Sat- city of Nashville to impose days, this problem that ally connects with them."q