A year ago, the COVID-19 pandemic canceled live events and large public gatherings in New York, throwing thousands of people out of work and shuttering businesses in the process. 

Now, as the nascent recovery begins amid distribution of the vaccine and rapid COVID tests that can be completed within an hour, state officials are being urged to provide support to small, independent venues that were among the hardest hit by the crisis. 

The New York Independent Venue Association on Friday is set to release a letter highlighting the need to provide support for smaller venues that have struggled while events over the last year were postponed. 

"Our industry partners were among the first businesses to close and will be the last to reopen," the association wrote in the letter to state officials. "Targeted assistance will accelerate the industry’s ability to open safely and begin the months long ramp-up process required to book tours, market live events, and get audiences comfortable sitting together again."

The group is now making a push for the state Legislature to prioritize help for small venues in the state budget due at the end of month, providing them with operating assistance and capital grants for theaters, comedy and night clubs, and other cultural spaces around New York. 

The venues affected are not the large concert halls or Broadway theaters that have large philanthropies or corporate backers to support them. 

"Candidates for grants would be defined as nonprofit or private for-profit, independently operated live-performance venues, promoters, production companies, and/or performance-related businesses located in New York State who were forced to shut down, operate at reduced capacity, or directly impacted due to government-mandated health orders," the letter states. 

Gov. Andrew Cuomo in January announced plans in his State of the State address to re-open venues this year with a mix of limited capacity live performances in the coming months. On Thursday, Cuomo announced outdoor venues will be able to reopen at 20% capacity in the coming days.