Uniting for the MADE Community – How Six Strangers Volunteered Their Skills and Time To Launch ‘I Lost My Gig (Singapore)’12 min read
Reading Time: 8 minutesSix strangers across various industries heeded a call to action, volunteering their own diverse skill sets and time to launch ilostmygig.sg, a website dedicated to tracking the impact of COVID-19 in the creative and cultural industry.
As of the evening of March 30, the lost income in the industry has tallied to more than S$27 million over 2400 impacted and the 7872 projects lost.
The initiative started with Keith Tan, founder of entertainment company Slate Entertainment, taking cues from the US and Australia’s versions of the website. Without a similar running tally of the confirmed losses in the Media, Arts, Design and Entertainment (MADE) industries, he wanted to help out by filling the gap.
Keith reached out to Nicholas Chee, who set up a Facebook support group earlier this year for creative and cultural freelancers affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, to ask if he knew about the technical aspects of starting a website – both of them were unsure. After the quick phone call, Nicholas posted a call for help on March 17 in the group to set up ilostmygig.sg.
Coincidentally, within minutes apart, full-time musician Loh Hsiao Shan also shared an article about Australia’s version of the site. She says, “I chanced upon the Aussie counterpart of ILostMyGig as my Aussie friends in past productions were sharing it around and decided to post it in the Facebook group. Mainly just to share that we are not alone in this, and this gig economy downturn is a worldwide phenomenon.”
These two posts became the starting points for how the team behind ilostmygig.sg came together. They now consist of Keith, Nicholas, Hsiao Shan, Jerry Lim, Ally Chua, and Jeremy Ho.
None of them knew each other before this project, but were all united in wanting to help out the MADE industries in any way they could. Working together, it took less than a week between conceptualisation and the launch of the website on 23 March.
After the phone call with Keith, Nicholas began designing the website’s logo, and continues to help out with the website. Keith shares how the work between the rest of the team was split up: “Honestly [the rest of the team] did all the heavy lifting! Jerry is our chief developer, Jeremy is our Google forms data master, Hsiao Shan and Ally are the content ninjas and I’m just there to direct traffic and help with the structure of the site.”
The website’s running tally is based on data collected through its main Google form. They look to attain accurate figures to help those vulnerable in the industry, including the sector they are involved in, the reasons for their projects’ cancellation, and their estimated total loss of income.
The team believes that this tally will help in the dialogues with both government agencies and trade organisations in understanding the extent of the situation in a dollar amount.
Collating the data is Jeremy, an independent documentary filmmaker, who was familiar with data collection and research for his current projects. He notes that the data collected so far have been a good gauge of trends, which could be useful for the government in charting policies and ideation.
Preliminary data found that the majority of the jobs lost is in the events and entertainment sector, followed by the performing arts, and the media. Keith, being in the worst hit sector, adds that with events, concerts and festivals of all sizes getting cancelled, all personnel tied in with these events are seeing their income go to zero in a blink of an eye.
Another important part of the survey for Jeremy is the “Tell us your story” section. Despite being an optional segment, a few respondents have shared a glimpse of their situation, with some illuminating “very specialised, specific situations” that not many would realise exist. Going through the data, Jeremy realised how fortunate his situation is compared to others.
“I used to run a small business and I realise that I’m quite lucky because I don’t really have overheads and all that. So I could wait it out with my savings and take advantage of SkillsFuture… but I think looking at some of the entries, I realise that it’s actually more serious – not everyone is as fortunate as me.”
How Singapore’s version of the website differs from the US and Australia is with how data could be automatically compiled into the main page’s tally; other versions would see each team manually update the data from their surveys. This was made possible by the work of both Keith and Jerry, who was tasked with creating the website and managing its technical aspects.
Jerry is the co-founder of tech company Megapixel Solutions, involved in web and mobile development work. While he is more involved in the technology industry unlike the rest of the team, he resonated with the concerns of the Facebook support group given his past experience as a freelancer, and “just wanted to lend a hand” with his skills in the development of the website.
As it is part of his bread and butter skills, there weren’t any issues or challenges that Jerry faced in creating and launching the website. Rather, the project was a learning experience for him. Even if he understood the backend technicalities, linking Google Sheets data to a website was something that he wasn’t aware of.
The challenges the team did face was in the website’s post-launch. Keith explains, “I think the general consensus is that it’s a good initiative as it helps to present the hurt the industry is feeling in data form. As with everything in life, there are some skeptics towards the site, their concerns are not unfounded and it’s understandable for them to feel the way they feel.”
While the updates to the tally are automatic, there is still a vetting process for all entries to ensure that the data collected are clean. Most of the work has been manual, but flag outs of entries such as those amounting to more than 1 million dollars or of duplicates are highlighted through conditional formatting. While vetting, Jeremy shares that there have been submissions with bogus or inflated amounts, with someone even quoting S$24 million in loss.
When faced with such entries, the team would call the respondents to clarify – if they don’t return with a reply, their entry will be voided. The team, however, are also implementing measures now where they will first remove any “really crazy figures” before calling and checking with respondents.
Jeremy notes, “It’s a minority of the entries but there’s enough to keep us busy. It just takes one guy to put in 5 million for the [tally] to jump…so it’s a minority but they will skew the figure, make people alarmed and ask if the data is reliable.”
Other than collating figures and data, ilostmygig.sg is also keen to connect those looking to offer help with those who require it the most. The website, however, makes it clear that they are not managing the collection of any donations or funds.
As of Thursday 26 March, there have been 30 responses to this call for help, with a large percentage related to the availability of paid work. The rest are of an exploratory nature, with some relaying what they have available but that they are unsure how they could help.
Rounding out the website’s features is its repository of resources and news, compiling useful information for the MADE industries such as relevant associations and societies, avenues of financial aid, and job opportunities. Helping out on this front are Hsiao Shan and Ally, a poet and writer involved in the local poetry scene.
Adding onto their roles of vetting the data, the work for the resource page is split between the two.
Speaking on her role, Ally shares, “I take note of potential resources when I see them on FB or reported on the news, and also sort through the entries that come in from people who fill in the ‘I Want to Help’ form on the website. I email these folks to ask for more info and clarifications before adding them, so there is a layer of checking that we go through before adding the resources to the website.”
Similarly for Hsiao Shan, she explains, “I’m just a minion – I take instructions from Keith. I started by collating the logos and websites for the arts resource page for content building. Now we just do whatever we can within our means.”
Despite being a group of volunteers and strangers, the workflow within the team was smooth and efficient. Jerry describes his experience, “I think the trust is there that everyone is here for a good reason and we’re just stepping in to help out. I mean there’s no questioning [within the team] of ‘why are you here’ or ‘why are you doing this.’”
Jeremy adds, “I’ve never met any of them before…I don’t even know what they look like but somehow there’s a collaborative spirit.”
Still, the main challenge moving forward is with how the team has to juggle their day job with managing the website. Ally says, “I think it’s a mix of balancing work and life with this ‘volunteer’ work. While compiling and curating resources is quite straightforward, it can be a bit time-consuming in the sheer data entry required. Other than that it’s really no biggie.”
She adds, “I do wish that there could be more ground-up initiatives though, like how the people in New York City and Europe are stepping up with resources and support groups, instead of people waiting for the government to help. But to be fair, I do see kind acts by Singaporeans everywhere, and examples of Singaporeans helping one another.”
Nicholas echoes the sentiments, “I hope that ilostmygig.sg will encourage people to start similar initiatives. [The COVID-19 outbreak] is an opportunity to reinvent the wheel; an opportunity for all of us to rethink how we can coexist in the same industry. So there should be no more situations of ‘every man or woman for themselves’ and ‘everybody must win first prize’ mindset because the competition is outside of Singapore on the global stage.”
In addition to the continuing collection of data and making sure that support reaches the right people, Keith shares that the team is fielding opportunities as they come.
“We hear that there are possibly companies and individuals (philanthropists) out there that could be interested in supporting this community, we urge them to come forward and we can connect them to the right channels where their donations can help support some of the people that need it most in this climate.”
But perhaps most importantly, there are also plans to meet face to face – that is, after the COVID-19 outbreak eases.
Read more:
Navigating COVID-19 – Insights From the Heart of the Industry
Pausing the Reel – How the COVID-19 Outbreak Has Affected Local Film Festivals
