Greater Orlando Performing Arts Relief (GOPAR) announced July 15 that it is launching the first arts and entertainment professionals survey for Central Florida.
Sponsored by the Orange County Arts and the Cultural Affairs Advisory Council, the survey seeks to measure the impact of COVID-19 on Central Florida’s arts and entertainment industry professionals. It also hopes to “illuminate” the industry’s work sources, demographics, needs and input on future relief efforts.
“During the pandemic, there were numerous surveys measuring organizational impact in the arts, entertainment and events industry, both local and national. However, there was no way of understanding individual or household impact, or even measuring simply how many people were affected,” said RK Kelley, local arts leader and one of the GOPAR steering committee leaders, in a press release. “This will give local industry leaders insight to this uniquely talented and valuable population, as well as help inform GOPAR’s future planning.”
The survey is open to all industry workers in Central Florida, regardless of their county of residence. All professionals that typically gain a portion of their annual income from the performing arts are encouraged to complete the short survey, according to the release.
The professionals encouraged to complete the survey also include arts education, the corporate/convention entertainment production industry and/or theme park entertainment sectors as well as onstage, technical, design, production, education, venue and management roles/positions or any combination of those listed.
“Many performers, technicians, production personnel, and even teaching artists ‘gig’ between numerous employers and events, but are self-employed and as a result, are largely uncounted in organizational economic surveys. Despite our very large arts and entertainment industry here in Orange County and across Central Florida, I believe this is the first-ever comprehensive measurement of its kind,” said Terry Olson, Orange County Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, in the release.
The survey can be found on the GOPAR website or via their social media pages (Facebook | Twitter | Instagram) from July 16 to 31. The survey takes around five to seven minutes to complete and is completely anonymous. Aggregate results will be published by the organization in mid-August.
For more information on the survey or about GOPAR, visit their website at GOPAR.org.
