Emergency Funding and Artist Resource List

As a friend, supporter, and partner of Visual Communications, we hope that you are well during these unsettling moments.

With the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), we understand that it has been an extremely challenging time for our creative community. We recognize that many people are feeling anxious about the immediate future and the loss of income. We are compiling a list of as many emergency funding sources and additional resources for artists as we can find, and we will continue to add to this listing as more resources become known and available.

If you know of any emergency artist resources that are not on our list, please share it with us by emailing info@vcmedia.org.

EMERGENCY FUNDING

Actor's Fund

The Entertainment Assistance Program functions as an entryway and guide through The Fund’s many programs when you’re facing personal or work-related problems. It is also a conduit for emergency financial assistance in times of pressing need or in response to catastrophic events.

Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation

Individual Support Grant: If you are a painter, printmaker, or sculptor, who has been working for at least 20 years in a mature phase of your work, and can demonstrate a need for financial assistance; Application deadline is December 15, 2020.
Emergency Grant Program: If you are a painter, printmaker, or sculptor, who has been working for at least 10 years in a mature phase of your work, and have recently undergone an unforeseen catastrophic event such as a fire, flood, or medical emergency; No application deadline. *Grant programs are open to US and international based artists.

American Documentary COVID-19 Artist Emergency Fund

This COVID-19 Artist Emergency Fund will provide rapid response grants up to $500 to assist artists with basic needs including food, immediate health needs and insurance premiums. Applications are now open and will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the fund is expired.

Amplifier Art Global Open Call for Art

In response to COVID-19, Amplifier is launching an emergency campaign with top art curators and public-health advisors from around the world; they are looking for two kinds of work: The first are public health and safety messages that can help flatten the curve through education. The second are symbols that help promote mental health, well-being, and social change work during these stressful times. They will award $1,000 apiece to 30 artists, with 5 winning works announced each week, starting the first week of April.

Artists Fellowship

The Artists’ Fellowship provides emergency aid to professional fine artists and their families in times of sickness, natural disaster, bereavement or unexpected extreme hardship. At this time, they are temporarily limiting relief and assistance applications to those qualified applicants who are dealing with immediate medical emergencies and their aftermaths.

Authors League Fund

The Authors League Fund helps authors, dramatists, journalists, and poets. Recipients must be career writers with a substantial body of work. While it is not necessary that the applicant subsists solely on his or her income from writing, or have published in recent years, the applicant’s status as a professional writer is vital. The Authors League Fund helps writers living in the United States, regardless of citizenship, and American writers living abroad. Currently the fund is available to those experiencing medical emergencies.

Black Spatial Relics 2020 Micro Grant

The 2020 Black Spatial Relics Micro Grants for Community Care and Collective Research will support projects doing one or both of the following: 1) Digital gatherings that center community care, affirmation, mutual aid and joy for Black communities in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis; 2) Collective research efforts centering Black communal and familial inquiry, transmission and documentation.

Broadcasters Foundation of America Monthly Grant

The Broadcasters Foundation of America provides monthly grants to radio and television broadcasters who are unable to work due to a critical illness, accident, advanced age or other serious misfortune.

CCI - Center for Cultural Innovation

San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) and Grants for the Arts (GFTA) have launched an emergency relief fund—the San Francisco Arts & Artists Relief Fund—to mitigate COVID-19 related financial losses that artists and small to mid-size arts and culture organizations have suffered. The Fund will prioritize the financial needs of individuals and organizations who are of and serving cultural populations that have been and remain financially vulnerable—black, indigenous, immigrant, trans, and people with disabilities.

CERF+ Emergency Assistance

CERF+'s emergency fund is for studio artists who have experienced a recent, career threatening emergency, such as an illness, accident, fire or natural disaster; In light of the anticipated volume of requests for assistance, for the time-being, CERF+ ‘s emergency relief grants related to Covid-19 will focus on those infected with the virus that require intensive medical care; Applicants must first fill out an inquiry form to first determine their eligibility.

CFC - Council for Creators

Counsel for Creators LLP is a next-generation law firm focused on the needs of creative businesses and individuals. Their attorneys take an informed, tech-savvy approach to working with clients on a wide range of legal matters.

COVID-19 & Freelance Artists

This list is specifically designed to serve freelance artists, and those interested in supporting the independent artist community. This includes, but is not limited to, actors, designers, producers, technicians, stage managers, musicians, composers, choreographers, visual artists, filmmakers, craft artists, teaching artists, dancers, writers & playwrights, photographers, etc.

Department of Cultural Affairs Arts Emergency Relief Fund

This program provides emergency relief grants to City of Los Angeles-based dance, music, and theatre artists, as well as small ensembles who have had their public performances, shows, or concerts cancelled. Solo artists are eligible for up to $400 and ensembles up to $1,200 to cover losses in time and/or materials that were committed toward events, which were to have taken place at a venue within the City of Los Angeles and were to be open to the general public. Eligible events should have been publicly advertised and scheduled to take between March 16, 2020 and May 16, 2020, AND must have been cancelled (or postponed to after August 30, 2020).

Dramatists Guild Foundation Emergency Grants

DGF provides emergency financial assistance to individual playwrights, composers, lyricists, and bookwriters in dire need of funds due to severe hardship or unexpected illness. In the midst of this situation, DGF will be processing Emergency Grants based on severity of need, especially as it relates to COVID-19.

Equal Sound Corona Relief Fund

Application open to musicians who have lost income due to a cancelled gig as a result of the Coronavirus. Funds will be distributed on a first come first serve basis.

Format Photographer Fund

The Photographer Fund was created to help independent photographers who are facing unprecedented financial hardships in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak stay on their feet. Self-employed photographers who are facing financial hardships are invited to apply.

Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant

The Foundation for Contemporary Arts is creating a temporary fund to meet the needs of experimental artists who have been impacted by the economic fallout from postponed or canceled performances and exhibitions. Deadline to apply is December 8, 2020. Grants range from $500-$2500. Applicants must be individual visual and performing artists, or an individual representing an artist collective, ensemble, or group. Applicants must be living in the United States or U.S. territories and have a U.S. Tax ID Number (SSN, EIN, ITIN, or other). Applicants must have committed performance or exhibition opportunities, and be able to provide specific dates at the time of application.

Freelancers Union

Resources and information for freelancers

MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund

MusiCare has expanded their services to include lost income due to the cancellation of scheduled gigs or performances due to Coronavirus/COVID-19 precautionary measures. Music industry professionals may apply for basic living assistance (rent or mortgage). Initial grant requests can be made up to $1000 to compensate for cancelled work that was scheduled and lost.

Musicians Foundation

To qualify for aid from the Musicians Foundation, you must meet the following qualifications: You (or the person for whom you are applying) must be a musician of any genre in a time of acute need, due to personal, medical, dental, or family crisis, natural disaster, or other emergency situation; You must have worked in the United States as a professional musician for at least five (5) years; You must currently reside in the United States; Grants typically range in amount from approximately $500-$3000.

New York Foundation for the Arts - Rauschenberg Emergency Grants

The program will provide one-time grants of up to $5,000 for unexpected medical emergencies. The grants are available to visual and media artists and choreographers who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents in the United States, District of Columbia, or U.S. Territories.

Pen America Writers’ Emergency Fund

PEN America will distribute grants of $500 to $1,000 based on applications that demonstrate an inability to meet an acute financial need, especially one resulting from the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. To be eligible, applicants must be based in the United States, be a professional writer, and be able to demonstrate that this one-time grant will be meaningful in helping them to address an emergency situation.

Pillars Rapid Response Fund

A rapid response fund that supports the personal expenses of Muslim artists and activists whose livelihoods are being negatively impacted COVID-19.

Queer Writers of Color Relief Fund

This fund is to help queer writers of color who have been financially impacted by the current COVID-19.

Safety Net Fund

The Safety Net Fund is a non-profit designed to help support artists in the Bay Area during the COVID-19 crisis, prioritizing artists that typically make their living offline at events & retail establishments that have been cancelled or closed due to coronavirus. This includes performing artists, musicians, visual artists, event producers, and other types of creators.

SAG-AFTRA Foundation COVID-19 Disaster Fund

Available to eligible SAG-AFTRA members who have been impacted by this pandemic. Emergency financial assistance is available for people who are unable to pay their basic living expenses (food/housing/health care) over the next two months.

Sawdust Art Festival Artist's Benevolence Fund

The Artists’ Benevolence Fund is a unique source of financial assistance to artists living in Laguna Beach, who have suffered a catastrophic event, leaving them unable to work. If you are a working artist, living in Laguna Beach, and have suffered a catastrophic event that has resulted in financial hardship, you may be eligible for a grant.

Soze Foundation Artist, Activist, Relief Fund

This fund, created by the Soze Foundation, Taskforce and Invisible Hand, will support artists and activists whose work has been impacted by COVID-19. Currently not accepting any new applications, but a waiting list is available.

Sweet Relief Musicians Fund

Available for musicians and music industry workers affected by the coronavirus; funds raised will go towards medical expenses, lodging, clothing, food and other vital living expenses to those impacted due to sickness or loss of work.

The Women’s Center for Creative Work COVID-19 Emergency Health Grant For Artists

Low-income artists who work in any genre or medium, who identify as a woman, as trans or nonbinary, and/or as a person of color, who live in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside or San Bernardino Counties are eligible to apply. 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Artist Grant

Provides a $500 USD grant to one visual artist each grant cycle. There are four grant cycles per year – January 15, April 15, July 15, and October 15.

Cinereach

Cinereach develops, produces, finances, and supports feature-length fiction, nonfiction and hybrid films crafted for the big screen. Project submissions are accepted on a rolling basis 

Harpo Foundation

The award provides direct support to under-recognized visual artists 21 years or older.

Hero Initiative

An applicant must have been a working comic book writer, penciler, inker, colorist, or letterer on a work-for-hire basis for no less than 10 years since January 1, 1934. An applicant must demonstrate to the Hero Disbursement Committee adequate evidence of financial need via verbal and written documentation.

ITVS

Open Call: Open Call provides documentary funding and co-production support so you can complete your nonfiction work in progress, then air it on public television; Application reopens June 15, 2020.
Diversity Development Fund: DDF gives producers of color up to $25,000 in research and development funding so you can develop your documentary for air on public television; Pre-production nonfiction projects only; Application reopens August 3, 2020.
Short Film Open Call: Short-Form Open Call offers development and co-production funding to help you complete your short nonfiction film or series for distribution on public media's web-based platforms; Applications on a rolling basis.

Korea Arts Foundation of America

KAFA selects one artist biennially (even numbered years) and awards $15,000 to the winner. The purpose of the award is to facilitate the capability for realizing creative endeavors, enhance, encourage and nurture artistic accomplishments, and acknowledge the presence of outstanding Korean-American artists. The awardee's artwork will be exhibited in the Los Angeles area.

The Bennett Prize

This is a that awards a stipend/grant to a woman artist to create her own solo exhibition of figurative realist paintings, which will travel the country.

The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant

The Foundation only funds young artists who are pursuing their studies or are in their early or developmental stages of their career, are working in a representational style of painting, drawing, sculpture, or printmaking; Applications are accepted on a rolling basis; No geographical restrictions.

The Pollock-Krasner Foundation

The Pollock-Krasner Foundation's dual criteria for grants are recognizable artistic merit and financial need. The Foundation's mission is to aid individuals who have worked as professional artists over a significant period of time. The Foundation welcomes, throughout the year, applications from visual artists who are painters, sculptors and artists who work on paper, including printmakers. There are no deadlines. The Foundation encourages applications from artists who have genuine financial needs that are not necessarily catastrophic.

The Roy W. Dean Grants

The Roy W. Dean Film Grants funds independent feature films, documentaries, web series, and short films with budgets of $500,000 or less that are unique and make a contribution to society that, without its help, might otherwise never get made.

The Women's Studio Workshop

Women’s Studio Workshop has an artist-centered philosophy and a deep commitment to the individual’s creative process. We support this vision through providing time and space in the form of grants, residencies, and internships where artists can come to work with 24-hour access to our studios.

W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund

This grant is designed to help a photographer begin a photographic project or help complete an ongoing photographic project. The Judges will be looking for a photographer whose proposed project seems most likely to use exemplary and compelling photojournalism (possibly supplemented by or incorporating multi-media) to address an issue of import and impact related to the human condition; social change; humanitarian concern; armed conflict or interpersonal, psychological, cultural, social environmental, scientific, medical and/or political significance, ideally expressing an underlying acknowledgement of our common humanity.