What do Kix Brooks, Vince Gill, Randy Owens, Brad Paisley, Dolly Parton and Michael T. Strickland all have in common? Each has been awarded the prestigious CMA Foundation Humanitarian Award. Bandit Lites founder and Chair Michael T. Strickland was honored Nov. 9 with the Humanitarian Award during. the 56th Annual CMA Awards live on ABC-TV.
The seldom given award is provided to “an individual who has served as a humanitarian through community leadership, financial support, personal volunteerism and advocacy.”
“I am indeed humbled to be honored in this way,” said Strickland. “To be mentioned in the same group as the previous honorees is amazing. But, at the end of it all, it was not me, but it was the millions of great people in the industry that have listened, acted, and taken the time to effect change and take care of one another. Entertainment is a huge family, and we all pulled together starting in 2020 and I was simply the one steering the ship. I am honored to have been given the opportunity.”
Strickland has worked tirelessly since March 13, 2020, up to the present as the face and voice of the entire entertainment industry before Congress. He called Senators Lamar Alexander and Marsha Blackburn to request help for the industry, and that journey has never ended, and when Sen. Alexander retired, Sen. Hagerty took his place.
During his legislative work, Strickland has appeared on major television networks, met with over 80 senators and representatives, and advanced the needs of the entire industry daily. He has worked on The Cares Act, PPP, PPP 2, Enhanced Unemployment, The RESTART Act, Save Our Stages and currently has The MUSIC Act before Congress. His testimony before the Senate in December 2020 was vital to the passage of Save Our Stages, which placed $16.25 billion dollars into a fund known as Shuttered Venues Operators Grants (SVOG). This became vital life blood for the entertainment industry.
Strickland began a small group by e-mail in March 2020 to educate his friends on the progress he was making. The chain ballooned into 1.3 million people with all phases of the industry from Broadway, film, television, fairs, festivals, rodeos, concerts, ballet, sports and virtually every conceivable type of live entertainment looking to him for information, guidance, knowledge and assistance.
Strickland has traveled across the U.S. meeting, speaking, and advising people and groups including an extreme amount of time in Washington, DC to access the legislators. The entire journey has been designed, funded and executed by Strickland using his own time and money.
He is working now to assure The MUSIC Act is included in the end of year Appropriations Bill. The previous SVOG fund was shuttered with $1.75 billion remaining in it, and The MUSIC Act seeks to reopen that fund to allow those people and entities that did not receive SVOG funding to participate. Live entertainment and cruise lines were the only two industries totally shut down for 16 months because of Covid-19.
As The MUSIC Act is 100% funded by the funds remaining in the shuttered SVOG bill, there is no “new money” needed, and thus, the political objection is nonexistent. Passage of The MUSIC Act will prevent a large number of people and entities from going under at the end of the year. While the industry is indeed alive, many people and entities are dragging behind them phenomenal debt they accrued to survive the shutdown.
Parallel to passage of The MUSIC Act, Strickland has been traveling across the country speaking to entertainment and sports groups to advance the need for a single entity to represent all groups that rely on a gathering of people to make a living. “Airlines, restaurants, pharmaceutical firms, and others go before Congress in battleships,” said Strickland. “Entertainment goes before Congress in a thousand canoes.”
Strickland is working daily to bring together every aspect of the various industries into a single PAC and Lobby so that Congress can appreciate the weight and size of the industry. The entity will be known as The Entertainment Association. As a future shut down of live events would again be devastating to those in the industry, The Entertainment Association simply must have a large, single voice before Congress.
While accepting the award, Strickland also said, “I would like to dedicate this award to the late Loretta Lynn, or mama as we called her. I started out with Loretta and Conway in 1969, and she gave me a shot when I was a kid. Onward and upward!”
More information is available at www.BanditLites.com
For more information about Michael T. Strickland’s upcoming talks at LDI 2022 and at THE Conference: Live at Lititz, visit https://plsn.com/featured/featured-slider/presenting-the-idea-of-the-entertainment-association/
