Over 400 Australian musicians have backed a national campaign that is urging people to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The campaign, called #VaxTheNation, was created by leaders of the live entertainment industry in the newly formed LIVE Alliance, which believes a vaccination target of 80 per cent is the ticket back to live performances.
LIVE Alliance (Live Industry Venues and Entertainment) includes representatives from ARIA, Live Performance Australia, Australian Festival Association, Live Nation, Frontier Touring, the Mushroom Group and TEG.
Paul Kelly, Amy Shark, Jimmy Barnes, Midnight Oil, Ocean Alley, G Flip, Celeste Barber and Troy Cassar-Daley are among hundreds of artists, bands and performers supporting #VaxTheNation, as they are keen to return to Aussie stages.
Although controversially, Guy Sebastian deleted a post on his social media channels supporting the movement, then posted an apology video for its appearance.
“The impact of the pandemic on Australia’s world-leading music, theatre, comedy and live entertainment industries has been truly devastating,” said LIVE Alliance members in a statement.
“Getting vaccinated is the crucial step fans can take which will allow us to join together and enjoy the unbeatable magic of live performance once again.”
The campaign was announced on Monday with a powerful video posted to YouTube that features images of music festivals, big crowds and smiling fans to the tune of My Happiness by Aussie music legends Powderfinger.
The message of the advertisement is to “stop the interruptions” and resurrect the nation’s entertainment sector that has been devastated by the pandemic.
One voice of the movement is composer, songwriter and actor Tim Minchin, who believes the nation needs a reminder that we are all in this together through “a wave of positive messaging”.
“Having the entertainment industry talk about how important it is that we can gather again and trying to de-complicate it matters,” Minchin said.
“We’ve got so much information and because we’re all a bit stuck and feeling anxious, clarity of messaging is difficult and that’s what I love about this campaign … that’s what they’ve got right.”
“We need a society where we commune, where we can rejoice in culture and this campaign is playing its part in a big jigsaw puzzle of voices. We’re not a divided nation. We’ve all just got to contribute and do our little bit to get everything back on board.”
Australia’s vaccination rate is rapidly climbing following urgent messages from state premiers that high jab rates will be the key to freedom for locked down Aussies.
Check out the video here:
Image credit: Shutterstock
