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NYC Low-Income Artist/Freelancer Relief Fund

Our fund is permanently closed. Please scroll down for access to other resources that might be useful. Thank you to everyone who has supported our work this year.

9/4: We have paused donations to the campaign for now. Please scroll down for other resources and visit us on [email redacted]income.artist.relief for updates and other resources xx

8/14: We have reached capacity for our final round of funding. As of now, there is no plan to reopen. Please scroll down for links to other mutual aid and relief efforts/resources. 

This campaign is fiscally sponsored by NYC 501c3 Culture Push

Hi. We're Shawn Escarciga and Nadia Tykulsker, two artists/administrators/advocates in NYC raising money to support other artists and freelancers like us who are taking financial hits as a result of closures and lost income from Covid-19. Our intention is to collectively raise funds to provide emergency and preventative resources to those at financial risk as our government is doing little to protect our well-being. 

We provide support for low-income, BIPOC, trans/GNC/NB, queer, undocumented, immigrant artists and freelancers whose livelihoods are being effected by this pandemic in NYC. Whether it's from cancelled gigs, lost jobs, or a lack of business due to Covid-19 closures, we hope to orchestrate an egalitarian approach to crowdsourcing. 

We are so thankful to the support we've received so far from over 1000 individual donors. We are grateful for the support of  other artists and our vibrant and far-reaching arts community in New York City--from drag queens, to performance artists, to musicians, to theater and dance makers, to freelancers in a variety of creative fields.

We are currently working  as part of the COVID-19 NYC Relief Fund Coalition - NYC (CRC-NYC) alongside Dance/NYC (here ), the Dance Union , the Indie Theater Fund , and NYFA  to learn from one another, share resources, and be in conversation around the ethics of relief funding.

As organizers of the fund, we are not gate-keeping anyone who is expressing need. Given the high volume of need, we ask that all applicants consider their access to familial wealth and ties to other stable sources of financial support. If you do have access to financial support, please consider allowing others to apply ahead of you. 

Please consider donating or sharing if you are unable to give at this time. Thank you!

This survey was modeled off of the brilliant work of Ijeoma Oluo and the Seattle Artist Relief Fund. 


OTHER RESOURCES:

+In Our Hearts Free Community Fridges 

+The Friendly Fridge Bronx 

+Mamatropolis Life Line : Financial and other resources for mothers, especially mothers of color

+Mutual aid for sex workers of color 

+The Okra Project 


+Covid19 Freelance Artist Resources 

+MUTUAL AID DATABASE 

+CORONA VIRUS 2020 ARTIST RELIEF FUNDS 

+Emergency Covid Relief for Sex Workers in New York 

+OUR SISTER FUNDS:
-The Dance Union is running the NYC DANCERS RELIEF FUND COVID19 : priority will be given to POC, disabled, Trans/NB, and dance artists who will not have access to emergency funds due to immigration status

-Dance/NYC: Coronavirus Dance Relief Fund  for freelance dance workers and dance making organizations in the NYC metro area: Closed

-Indie Theater Fund: currently closed

-TRI STATE RELIEF FUND TO SUPPORT NON SALARIED WORKERS IN THE VISUAL ARTS : closed


+Hire Artists: resources for finding work during the crisis 

+ The Actors Fund: Funds for those in the entertainment industry (non-equity included) and dancers. Please review requirements on the page linked above. 


+ARTIST RELIEF .ORG: Coalition of NYC organizations and funds offering $5k to artists living in the city. Please visit site for other requirements

+FREE THEM ALL FOR PUBLIC HEALTH 


Questions? Thoughts? Want to help out in other ways?
Please contact us.


ABOUT US:

Nadia Tykulsker (she/her)
is an Artist/Arts Advocate/Organizer born and raised in Brooklyn, she forefronts her work with anti-racism, currently makes movement based performance, is on staff at ArtsPool and works as an administrative partner to Jonathan Gonzalez, Jennifer Harge, Fana Fraser, and Ivy Baldwin.

Shawn Escarciga(he/they) is an artist and arts administrator based in Brooklyn. Shawn makes body based performance and collage work around class, labor, and intimacy. He is the former Assistant Director of arts non-profit Culture Push and does freelance advising to low-income and other marginalized artists. As a historically poor, queer person, Shawn believes in shifting paradigms around class and resources, and advocates strongly for people not being assholes.

We are incredibly grateful for the administrative support of Meropi Peponides and Beto O'Byrne. 


A huge thank you to the Howard Gilman Foundation and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS for both donating generously to this campaign. A huge thank you to the nearly 1.5 thousand individual donors, large and small, who have also given to sustain artists and freelancers in NYC. 


*For logistics and transparency: Funds from this campaign will go into our fiscal sponsor's bank account, and as results from the survey come in, we will send the funds to the individual artist requesting them (the beneficiary). Shawn and Nadia are working with other organizations and artists to ensure that funds are dispersed ethically and are accounted for directly. Funds will go directly to the artists to counter any lost income incurred as a result of cancelled jobs, gigs, and illnesses due to the Covid-19 pandemic in the city.

Donations 

  • Katelyn Belle Helms
    • $166 
    • 4 yrs

Organizer

Shawn Escarciga
Organizer
Brooklyn, NY

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