Merrigong Theatre Company today announced a major reboot of its MERRIGONGX Artists’ Program for 2020, with an injection of more than $40,000 into new projects from independent artists. This reboot comes in response to the COVID-19 crisis and its effect on employment opportunities for performing artists, and is in addition to a range of existing independent artist support that was originally announced for MERRIGONGX in 2020.

Merrigong’s Artistic Director / CEO Simon Hinton said “Our industry has been very badly affected by the closure of our venues, and while we are very grateful that the Federal Government’s JobKeeper program has allowed Merrigong to keep all of our permanent staff (albeit reduced to 80% of their normal hours) and many of our casual operational staff employed, most artists in our industry do not qualify for this assistance due to the project nature of their employment.”

“That has made it a priority for us as a company to rethink our current programs to ensure that artists are still working to make exciting new theatre, and connecting with community and audiences in our region and beyond,” he said.