$210,146.50 CONTRIBUTED BY 703 DONORS AND DISPERSED TO 712 ARTISTS
NC ARTIST RELIEF FUND
a collaboration between Artspace, PineCone, Theatre Raleigh, United Arts Council, and VAE Raleigh
The NC Artist Relief Fund fund was created to support creative individuals who have been financially impacted by COVID-19. VAE Raleigh has donated our time managing the fund to ensure 100% of donated funds were sent directly to artists in financial need. Musicians, visual artists, actors, DJ’s, dancers, teaching artists, filmmakers, comedians, and other creative individuals experienced widespread cancellations due to this global pandemic. Many North Carolina artists rely on markets, performances, classes, and exhibitions in order to pay the bills directly aligned with their costs of living.
As of September 10, the NC Artist Relief Fund has sent $210,146.50 to 712 artists living in 202 cities and towns across North Carolina. The fund launched on March 14 to create a safety net that works alongside all of the local funds that are set up to serve specific counties in North Carolina (a full list of these amazing funds is available here). The fund prioritized BIPOC artists, artists with disabilities, and queer artists since the day we launched, and of the artists who have received funds, 69% identify as a member of at least one of these communities.
We recognize that COVID-19 is not going away and that we face the strong possibility of continued shutdowns and a lack of revenue for artists. We plan to keep the infrastructure of this fund in place so that we can easily react to the needs of our community when funds are available. We also plan to build on this work to create a more robust and consistent safety net for the artists in our community - more to come on that in the future.
For artists based in Wake, Johnston, Harnett, Chatham, and Lee counties, United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County will offer grants of up to $1500 and the deadline to apply is October 1. Please visit https://unitedarts.org/grants/artist-support-grants/ for details.
Multiple foundations have come together to form Artist Relief which is making $5,000 grants available to artists in the United States.
The NC Artist Relief Fund is managed by VAE Raleigh, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. All donations are fully tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.
