The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is set to begin accepting applications for the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG), a program created to fund music venues with grants equal to 45 percent of their 2019 revenue.. The application portal will open on April 8, and the SBA is hosting a webinar on the application process from 2:30 to 4 p.m. ET on March 30. 

“The SBA knows these venues are critical to America’s economy and understands how hard they’ve been impacted, as they were among the first to shutter,” SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman said in a press release. “This vital economic aid will provide a much-needed lifeline for live venues, museums, movie theaters and many more.”

The SVOG program was established by the Economic Aid to Hard Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits and Venues Act—formerly known as Save Our Stages—which was passed into law on December 27, 2020. Earlier this month, three members of congress sent a letter to the SBA questioning the delay in launching the program.