Advanced Television

Amazon commits €1m to Italian entertainment industry

November 13, 2020

Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Studios have announced a €1 million commitment to support the Italian entertainment industry through the pandemic. The donation is being made to the emergency Covid-19 fund, Scena Unita, created by a group of Italian artists and celebrities, with the support of Amazon Prime Video as main donor. The fund is open to further donations from other companies, to increase the number of workers in the entertainment business who can benefit from the new fund.

Scena Unita has been launched by a group of Italian artists, musicians and celebrities including Fedez, Carlo Verdone, Achille Lauro, Sabrina Ferilli, Gianna Nannini and others, who have decided to join forces to support the entertainment industry workers who are most likely to suffer the negative impact of the Covid-19 crisis on their lives and careers, after independent TV and film production, theatre, comedy, live music and other artistic endeavours were forced to come to a halt.

“The Covid-19 crisis has affected workers in the entertainment industry in Italy and across Europe,” said Georgia Brown, Director of European Amazon Originals for Prime Video.This is a difficult, challenging time and we are aware of the hardship many people are going through. As we gear up for production restarting on a number of Amazon Original series in Italy and across Europe in the coming months, we’re committed to continuing to support the creative community through this crisis.”

“First of all, I want to thank all of my colleagues who are generously supporting this project, and Amazon Prime Video who immediately backed our idea of a fund devoted to all the workers from live music shows to theatre and entertainment, are suffering the unimaginable consequences of the Covid-19 crisis”, added Fedez. “This will not solve all of the problems they are going through, but we felt the urge to do something. I am sure, the show will go on, but this will only happen if we stand together and support these workers, as they are the pillars of each artistic project.”

The Scena Unita fund project is powered by CESVI, an independent organisation that has been working for more than 30 years throughout the world’s worst humanitarian emergencies, in collaboration with the group La Musica Che Gira and the social enterprise Music Innovation Hub.

“The exciting contribution of Amazon Prime Video to Scena Unita is the confirmation, for us at Cesvi, that a close collaboration between companies and non-profit organisations, is crucial to finding concrete action to social challenges, such as the one our country is facing nowadays,” said Gloria Zavatta, President at Cesvi Foundation. “Having a partner that believes in human values and invests in them, makes the development of important projects such as Scena Unita possible. We hope that many other companies will follow the lead of Prime Video”.

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