The fallout of COVID19 is hitting everyone hard, but artists are exceptionally vulnerable. As of 2 April 2020, $325M of income had been lost by independents in the Australian creative industries as a direct result of the measures put in place to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
Whilst there has been a range of government and non-government finance and support initiatives, there will still be independent artists who fall through the cracks and where JobSeeker payments alone won’t be enough to cover all of their essential expenses, if indeed they are even eligible. In response, a consortium of companies in the performing arts led by Theatre Network Australia and Creative Partnerships Australia has set this campaign up to provide equity bursaries.
We seek to ensure independents are able to continue their practice while dealing with the day to day impacts of COVID-19 on their lives.
SO HERE IS THE GOAL:
We need 1000 donors, to each contribute $1000 = allowing us to support 1000 artists!
CREATIVE PARTNERSHIPS AUSTRALIA (CPA) WILL WAIVE THE USUAL 5% FEE SO THAT 100% OF DONATIONS WILL BE DISTRIBUTED TO ARTISTS IN NEED.
Please note that this campaign is set up to support those working in a theatrical and contemporary performance context, and does not support musicians (who can be supported through Support Act) or visual artists (who can be supported by NAVA’s Artists’ Benevolent Fund), unless working as a composer / sound designer, set and visual designer, etc in theatre, cabaret, comedy, live contemporary performance etc.
For more information, contact Jamie Lewis, Program Manager at Theatre Network Australia: info@tna.org.au
Photo by Karen Zhao on Unsplash
