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Coronavirus putting musicians out of work

Posted at 6:20 AM, Mar 25, 2020
and last updated 2020-03-25 12:01:51-04

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The novel coronavirus has forced the cancellation of many events and is leaving musicians and other entertainers out of work.

Accordion player and singer Jane Christison said the virus has led to several scheduled performances being canceled.

"I had three performances St. Patrick's Day that - was no surprise - it was canceled, but that hurt because I was looking forward to those," she explained.

Christison added she has saved some money to soften the economic blow, but other musicians she has heard from are not so fortunate.

"I saw a Facebook post from one of my young Kansas City young audiences performers and she's worried about her electricity being turned off and not being able to meet her bills and not even having enough money for gas to drive home to California so she could live with family," she said.

Despite lost work and money, Christison said she did receive some good news she could be playing again in the near future.

"I had an email yesterday for something this summer and I said thank you so much, your email gave me hope that there will be an end to this thing," she said.

In the meantime, Christison said the best way the public can help suddenly jobless performers is to go online and buy their merchandise and download their music.