COVID-19 Freelance Artist Resources

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.

What this list IS: an aggregated list of FREE resources, opportunities, and financial relief options available to artists of all disciplines.

What this list IS NOT: a place to promote individual artist practices (we love you, but we’re not equipped for that); a place to promote fee for service work; or a place to seek direct emergency funding.

Original resources and inspiration provided by Nicole Brewer, Ann Marie Lonsdale, Quanice Floyd, Tiffany Wilhelm, Brian Herrera, Hannah Fenlon, & Clementine Bordeaux.

If you have resources you’d like to add to this list, please submit them via this form. The administrators of this list (Hannah Fenlon, Ann Marie Lonsdale, Abigail Vega) will review and share your resource with the community!

UPDATE: The organizers of this list are producing a webinar for individual artists on March 16, intended to provide resources and build community in the freelance community. Read more here – we hope you’ll join us!

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

GENERAL PREPAREDNESS RESOURCES
ADVOCACY ALERTSEMERGENCY FUNDING
BEST PRACTICES FOR ONLINE TEACHING
ONLINE PLATFORMS
HEALTH AND MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES
TEMPORARY/REMOTE JOB OPPORTUNITIES
OTHER MISCELLANEOUS WISDOM
OTHER LISTS
EVENTS
INTERRUPTING RACISM RESOURCES

GENERAL PREPAREDNESS RESOURCES

• Arts Ready Alert – Preparing for the Potential Impact of Coronavirus 

• Preparing for the Impact of the Coronavirus (Theatre Communications Group)

• COVID19 Effect Preparation Worksheet

• National Coalition for Arts’ Preparedness and Emergency Response

• Emergency Preparedness from CA Arts Council

• Mayor’s Office (NYC) Guidance

• If Your Audition Was Canceled, You Can Still Share Your Work (best practices?)

• Business Continuity Planning (Honeybook)

ADVOCACY ALERTS

• “Canceled Gigs Due to Coronavirus? Here’s What You Can Do” 

• Gig Cancellations due to Coronavirus: Survival Tips for Freelancers

• Freelancers Union

• Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts  (NYC)

• California Lawyers for the Arts

• Oregon Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts

• Supporting Artists with Families in our COVID-19 Plans (Parent Artist Advocacy League)

• Navigating Unemployment for Theatre Artists (Erin Swank)

• California Employment Development Department

• Small Business Relief for NYC

• Lawyers for the Creative Arts, Chicago, IL

• NYC COVID-19 Business Assistance Survey

EMERGENCY FUNDING

National Relief Funds & Grants

• Comprehensive List of Funding Opportunities from 3Arts

• Emergency Grants – Foundation for Contemporary Arts 

• Emergency Grants – New York Foundation for the Arts  (visual arts heavy)

• Emergency Grants – Rauschenberg Foundation 

• Emergency Grants – Women Arts 

• Emergency Relief Programs – Alliance of Artist Communities

• Emergency Grants for Visual Artists (comprehensive list with tips)

• AGMA Relief Fund

• Actors Fund Emergency Financial Assistance (not just for actors)

• Shade Literary Arts Queer Writers of Color Relief Fund (national)

• Local 802 Emergency Relief (musicians)

• Artist Relief Tree

• The National Writers Union Freelance Solidarity Project (writers)

• I Lost My Gig

• PEN America Writers Emergency Fund (writers)

• Emergency Grants – Dramatists Guild Foundation

• Emergency Funding – CERF + The Artists Safety Net

• MusiCares (run by The Grammys)

• Missed Tour (merch for sale to support musicians)

• Musicians Foundation Emergency Fund (musicians)

• Sweet Relief Musicians Fund

• CERF+ Artist Safety Net (focusing on craft artists)

• Joust for Freelancers (collecting unpaid/outstanding bills)

• Financial Solidarity Mutual Aid Google Sheet
  

Advocacy Alerts and Petitions for Funding

• Help advocate at the federal level for relief!!! Advocacy Action Alert – TCG & Performing Arts Alliance 

• “Actors’ Equity Calls For Government Relief For Theater Workers In Wake Of Local Bans On Mass Gatherings”

• Local Advocacy: Letter to Mayor London Breed and Mayor Libby Schaaf Re: Wage Workers and CoVID19

• Vox.com is soliciting stories! Google form here

• Demands from Grassroots Organizers Concerning COVID-19

• CALIFORNIA: Covid-19 California Arts Field Survey (will help them gather info to advocate for artist and organization support from the CA state government)

• Live Streamed Concerts (compendium of info on lost classical music gigs)

Local Relief Funds & Grants

• Important Info re: GoFundMe and Taxes for Organizers

• BOSTON: Theater Community Benevolent Fund (plans to roll out resources this weekend, as of 3/12/20)

• BOSTON: Boston Singers Relief Fund 

• BOSTON: Boston Music Maker Relief Fund (RecordCo)

• BOSTON: Boston Artist Relief Fund (City of Boston)

• CHICAGO: Chicago Mutual Aid (artist organized)

• DURHAM, NC: Durham Artists Relief Fund

• FORT WORTH, TX: Fort Worth Artist and Service Worker Relief Fund

• SEATTLE: Artist Relief Fund

• WEST COAST: GoFundMe Supporting Performing Artists

• PITTSBURGH: Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council’s Artist Emergency Fund

• NYC: Episcopal Actors’ Guild

• NYC: Dance NYC Coronovirus Impact Survey

• NYC: GoFundMe Low-Income Artist/Freelancer Relief Fund

• NYC: Hebrew Free Loan Society

• NYC: Actor’s Guild

• NYC: Assistance & Guidance for Businesses Impacted Due to Novel Coronavirus From NYC.gov

• NYC: Emergency CASH Assistance through HRA

• New York: Max’s Kansas Project (seems like it’s for musicians)

• NYC: Indie Theater Fund (give funds) and Indie Theater Fund Request Doc (ask for help) (theater artists and companies with budgets under $250K)

• MINNESOTA: Springboard for the Arts Emergency Fund

• PHILADELPHIA: GoFundMe Philly Performance Artists Fund

• WASHINGTON, DC: Theatre Washington Emergency Fund, Taking Care

• HAWAI’I: Hawaii Artists and Entertainment Professionals Fund

• OKLAHOMA: Red Dirt Relief Fund (Emergency Financial Assistance for Oklahoma Musicians)

• CALIFORNIA: Gov. Newsom has waived the one week waiting period for those unemployed or disabled by Covid-19

• DENVER: Denver Metro Area Artist Relief Fund

Interest Free Loans

• Hebrew Free Loan Society (New York based artists)

International Resources (outside United States)

• Petition to the British Government to offer economic assistance to the events industry during COVID-19

• CREO – Corona Response for Event Organisers (in English, with a focus on Europe/UK)

BEST PRACTICES FOR ONLINE TEACHING, LEARNING, and GATHERING

• Accessible Teaching in the Time of COVID-19 

• Distance Learning Tips 

• Resources for Moving Dance-Based Pedagogy Online 

• Remote Teaching Resources 

• Teaching Theatre Online: A Shift in Pedagogy Amidst Coronavirus Outbreak

• Teaching Theatre Thru Remote Learning Facebook Group

• “Ways of Gathering In the Age of COVID-19” (HowlRound)

• “Please do a bad job of putting your course online” (Rebecca Barrett-Fox)

• Resources for Moving Production Courses Online in Case of an Emergency

• How to Be Good at Video Meetings

• How Performers Can Survive the “Year of the Cancellation.” (Sean Buvala)

• Teaching Remote Music Lessons: The Best Services and Settings to Use (with step-by-step instructions) (Eric Heidbreder)

• Companies Offering Free or Discounted Educator Resources

• Free Online Music Theory Teaching Platform for Affected Schools (utheory.com)

• Video Library for Dance Educators

• How To Create Your Best Self Tape Setup

ONLINE PLATFORMS

• Twitch

• BlueJeans (video conferencing)

• Loom

• Zoom

• Google Hangouts

• StageIt (be wary, they may charge high hosting fees, up to 40%!)

• Jitsi Meet

• MutualAid

• Patreon

• Moodcaster — iOS and Android app for virtual auditions, casting, and learning

• Hovercast

• Slack, Asana, Basecamp, Trello, Airtable, Submittable (project management/efficiency tools)

• Comcast Offering FREE ‘Internet Essentials’ for Low-Income Customers for 60 Days

HEALTH AND MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES

• The Actors Fund

• Friedman Health Center (NYC)

• Planned Parenthood

• Open Path Psychotherapy Collective

• 16 Directories for Therapists of Color

• National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color

• Free Online Guided Meditation

• National Alliance on Mental Illness

• Online Sobriety Resources: AA, NA, Al-Anon, Tempest

• Free Coaching Session for Freelancers Struggling with COVID-19 Stress (includes a promise of no sales pitch for future paid services)

• A Guide to Caring For Your Coronavirus Anxiety

• At Home Workouts with Leading Lady Fitness

• Text HOME to 741741 from anywhere in the United States, anytime, about any type of crisis.

TEMPORARY/REMOTE JOB OPPORTUNITIES

• 25+ Sites for Finding Remote Work

• 2020 Census Jobs (Uncertain how this might be affected by the current climate but figure it’s worth putting on here)

• Resources for Remote Work

• Rev.com (verified they have paid people for transcription work)

• Real Ways to Earn Money Online (verified)

• Online Focus Groups (not verified but worth trying)

• Online Opportunities for Bilinguals (not verified but worth trying)

• Baltimore Area Childcare Providers During School Closures

• Tongal’s Global Creative Platform for Writers, Animators, Editors, Podcasters and Filmmakers

• Employing Artists (Public Facebook Group)

• Quarantine Books Club (seeking authors of YA, SciFi, and BIPOC writers in particular)

• Fiverr

OTHER MISCELLANEOUS WISDOM

• Arts and Culture Sector Can Prepare for the Coronavirus in the United States (Americans for the Arts)

• Freelancers out of work – how to deal with your student loans

• “Coronavirus offers “a blank page for a new beginning” says Li Edelkoort

• Healing Justice Podcast

• Additional Resources for Facing Coronavirus/Covid19 (adrienne marie brown)

• Social Justice in a Time of Social Distancing 

• Have a will and medical power of attorney prepared

• How to support Freelancers, from Springboard

• Small Business Ownership Wisdom, Sapling

• Square Business Resource Center

• Grantwriting Basics for Individual Artists

• You Need a Budget (referral link) and Mint (budgeting tools)

• Coronavirus Preparedness Community Document

• For parents and caregivers! Enrichment Activities for Children While Parents are Working Remotely

• How to Transition to a Virtual Workplace Overnight (Fractured Atlas)

• Artist Think Tank (Youtube – Johnnie Ray Kornegay III)

• Virtual Museum Tours

AND FINALLY, OTHER LISTS TO CHECK OUT

• COVID-19 Resources from the New England Foundation for the Arts

• Resource List from National Performance Network

• Creative Capital’s List of Arts Resources

• Anti-Racism Resources