Deadline: 18-Aug-20
The Centre for Cultural Innovation (CCI) is accepting applications for the California Relief Fund for Artists and Cultural Practitioners.
The California Relief Fund for Artists and Cultural Practitioners is a response to the economic crisis, and ensuing financial needs of individuals, that has resulted from the coronavirus pandemic. The large-scale shutdown that was needed to slow the spread of COVID-19 has continued to put the entire arts sector on hold, effectively disrupting artists’ ability to earn income. Individuals are the backbone of arts and culture–exhibitions and performances, educational arts programming, community-anchoring cultural enterprises, and social impact-based creative entrepreneurship–and they need financial help to remain in their communities and contribute to making the state artistically and culturally vibrant.
The California Relief Fund for Artists and Cultural Practitioners is for artists and cultural practitioners who need financial help as a result of this federally recognized qualified disaster. Grants will be distributed to reflect the cultural and geographic diversity of the state of California—including those who are of historically underserved communities who are especially vulnerable financially due to this economic crisis.
Funding Information
- The California Relief Fund for Artists and Cultural Practitioners makes available $920,000 total, in $1,000 award amounts, to artists and cultural practitioners (i.e., fine artists, including literary, visual, and performing artists; teaching artists; culture bearers; and maker-based sole or collective-based creative social entrepreneurs) who are current, full-time residents of the state of California.
Principles
CCI will operate the Fund with the following ethos:
- Trust: They intend to operate this Fund in a way that provides some relief from stress, anxieties, and isolation. To that end, they ask for relatively little by way of documentation. They trust that those who apply have met the criteria and that your artistic and cultural practices or professional role have been contributing to the state of California’s rich and varied cultural vitality.
- Generosity: No funder can fully address the financial impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. Before applying, they ask individuals to self-assess their financial state of need. This way, they can stretch the Fund’s resources by helping more people and those with the most urgent needs.
- Responsibility: They recognize how debilitating it can be to live with financial precarity. They are committed to notifying all applicants as quickly as possible after the program deadline, and issuing payments promptly.
Eligibility Criteria
- Must be a current, full-time resident of the state of California; and must upload ONE proof of current residency in the state of California. Proof is demonstrated by including a legible photo of a current state driver’s license or ID; or most-recent utility bill, health insurance statement, bank statement, or other document. The name and address must match that used in the application form.
- Must be an artist or cultural practitioner; and must provide documentation that demonstrates applicant’s professional role in arts and culture.
- Must not be eligible for or currently receiving CA-state unemployment insurance (UI) benefits (Applicants receiving CARES benefits through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance [PUA] program ARE eligible for funding);
- Cannot have a conflict of interest (family or financial relationships) with the boards, staff, and directors of CCI and California Arts Council and state-level elected officials and their staffs;
- Can only apply once.
For more information, visit https://www.cciarts.org/California_Relief_Fund.html