As of today (June 30), the Small Business Administration has delivered $1 billion in Shuttered Venue Operator Grant funds to the accounts of independent promoters, venues, movie theaters and more, according to the organization. The SBA informed those on the daily SVOG stakeholders call this morning that another $1 billion in funds has been awarded to businesses, but has not yet been deposited in their accounts.
The SBA has seen a faster rollout of award notifications in the past two weeks after failing to deliver all Priority 1 businesses — those who lost 90% or more of their revenue in 2020 — in the first 14 days of funding.
According to this morning’s stakeholders call, 2,919 award approval letters have gone out in total. Another 2,929 award notifications have been queued up to go out. An additional 265 applicants have received decline notices, with another 1,400 set to be declined.
The SBA’s grant website states that roughly 27% of the more than 14,600 applications are currently under review, with another 21% awaiting consideration. About 1,600 applicants will be receiving a notice to fix technical corrections from the SBA as well. According to an SVOG stakeholder, these are entities that meet the criteria for approval, but something in their application needs to be fixed. The SBA is working on a process to send emails to those that need technical corrections and show them on the portal how to address them.
Also in the works is an appeals process for those who have been denied but believe they are still eligible for the grant. While details of the process are still being worked out, it is estimated that businesses will have around two weeks to work on their appeals.
“We don’t know when [the appeals process] is going to happen, but it’s good news and it’s something that we’ve been asking for for months,” one stakeholder tells Billboard.
Following an estimated two-week appeals process, venues will be able to begin applying for supplemental grants based on the money left over. According to SBA figures, $11.6 billion in funding has been requested from the more than $16 billion fund. With several declines and varying award amounts, that could leave around $4 billion in supplemental funds for which music venues, promoters, talent agencies and more can apply.
