The application portal for the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program will now reopen Monday, rather than the originally scheduled date Saturday.
“We heard you and we are taking action. In response to stakeholder feedback about reopening the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant application this weekend, the application portal will now reopen on Monday, April 26 at 12pm ET,” the Small Business Administration wrote in a tweet Friday evening.
On Thursday evening, the Small Business Administration announced it would reopen the portal Saturday afternoon. However, that decision was quickly met with blowback from prospective applicants, who stressed the inability of those observing Shabbat to apply, as well as the hardship it imposed on parents who would need to quickly find childcare.
The grant program was passed into law on Dec. 27, 2020. Since then, applicants, including Broadway theater owners, producers and other theater offices, have been waiting for a chance to apply for grants of up to $10 million.
The application portal originally opened April 8, but was shut down a few hours later due to technical difficulties. In the announcement Thursday, the SBA said it had fixed those issues.
