Funders Launch Artist Relief, a $10 Million Fund for Artists and Creative Workers

Artist Relief, a $10 million national emergency relief fund for artists and creative workers that was created by a consortium of funders, will provide $5,000 no-strings-attached grants. It is intended for anyone who earns income from creative or artistic practice and who has also been affected by COVID-19. According to a release, “The scope and speed of this coalition is unprecedented. Never before has a group of small and mid-sized arts funders organized so quickly, and with such ambition. As Artist Relief’s media partner, Cultural Counsel is committed to furthering this effort.”

A release stated that “Americans for the Arts is proud to have been brought on as the research partner in that effort, and in that role was asked to develop and deploy COVID-19 Impact Survey for Artists and Creative Workers, which is designed to capture financial and creative impact of COVID-19 on creative workers, highlight the resiliency and generosity of the creative sector, and make sure that the 5 million creative workers in the U.S. are supported and heard during this ongoing crisis and the eventual recovery. This new survey is a counterpart to our ongoing Economic Impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on Arts and Cultural Organizations survey, which over 11,000 organizations have completed to date.”

In addition to ensuring creative workers can sustain their practice, our goal in collecting this data is to provide research that will support our Federal policy efforts in the next phase of stimulus and COVID-19 recovery; policies that are specific to individual creative workers.