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“The Artist Relief fund, a national coalition of arts grantmakers that distributes $5,000 grants to creative professionals affected by the coronavirus pandemic, has awarded $13.5 million to 2,700 individuals since April,” writes Sarah Bahr in Thursday’s (9/24) New York Times. “Now, thanks to additional funding from partners like the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the coalition announced Thursday that it will continue to distribute grants through the end of the year. The additional contributions, including $2.5 million from the Mellon Foundation and $1 million from Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, a San Francisco music festival, bring the total raised to nearly $20 million. The Mellon Foundation also provided a $5 million seed gift to the initial $10 million pool the fund started with…. Artists, writers, filmmakers, musicians, dancers and other creative professionals who are 18 and older and facing ‘dire financial emergencies’ because of the pandemic can apply for a $5,000 grant…. The fund is administered by seven national arts grantmakers—the Academy of American Poets, Artadia, Creative Capital, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, MAP Fund, National YoungArts Foundation and United States Artists…. The fund has received more than 130,000 applications. It distributes an average of 100 of the $5,000 grants per week.”
