Help trans artists pay bills

Hi, I'm Laurence. I'm an artist, educator, and organizer. My partner Keeva and I live with our dog in Las Vegas, NV. I recently graduated with my Masters, and though I've had a lot of leads on jobs (and even in the hiring process) I don't have a source of income. My partner also has no source of income during the summer; as a graduate student she is paid by the school September through May. We both have freelance gigs, but they are few and far between, and don't pay much or consistently.

Bills are due. Rent is due in 15 days. I have $60 in my bank account. I don't drink. We don't go out to eat. We don't even buy groceries right now - we go to a food pantry. I'm ineligible for unemployment or food stamps. The most expensive thing for us right now is electricity and rent. I'm paying my bills with credit cards. Paying for things with cash I borrowed from friends. Buying things with credit cards for people so I can get cash. Going further into debt just to make rent. If i had family to borrow money from, I'd go there first. But it's not like that for me.

I hate asking for money like this. Part of it is fear of rejection. The other part is pride. I work my a** off to make money. But for some reason, the money isn't here yet. The City still owes me 3k on a project they deem "incomplete" (that's a whole other story). UNLV owes me 1200 on a grant they haven't disbursed (for no real reason as far I can tell). Now I am teaching part time and haven't even been enrolled into the HR payroll system (and it's week 2 of classes). I have a full time job in the wings... I'm going through the HR process right now. But the money seems SO far away. I applied to a no-interest emergency loan, but that's a long process and i have yet to see anything about that.

I keep getting medical bills in the mail for things that should be covered. These past few weeks I've spent countless hours on the phone with insurance, hospitals, bill companies... I've been calling and emailing UNLV to get my money and make sure I'm hired. I can't seem to figure out why no progress has been made. And while I do all this the money keeps shrinking and the bills keep stacking up.

Any amount helps. Being a trans Jewish artist often means living at the margins of society, and doing what I can to make money.

I'm selling art, selling tarot fortunes, selling stickers, zines, anything I can. But right now, money is so tight, I don't know when we will be able to buy dog food.

Please consider supporting two struggling transgender artists as we work towards a steady income stream.

Anyone who donates above $100, I'd like to send you some art as a thank you.

Laurence