UPDATE: The Freelancers Union has created a Relief Fund, check the link to either apply or donate (note: applications look to open April 2).
UPDATE: New Music USA has opened up their Solidarity Fund for all you freelance musicians out of gigs. Apply here.
I started this blog a dozen years ago because I was going insane—the banks had destroyed economic opportunity for tens of millions of people, I couldn’t find a job, my unemployment had run out, and I had to do something constructive.
And here we are again, folks. In this case, it’s a virus, nothing nearly as sociopathic as an investment banker but more destructive. Where before I had not been working, now I had been working constantly, and now that’s been taken away.
As a freelancer in the arts, I’m now searching high and low for both work and relief. The former seems non-existent, but there is a bit of the latter, and for anyone in my shoes, there’s some resources to check out to see if any are targeted toward your needs:
- Creative Capital has a List of Arts Resources
- The Freelancers Union has some options
- The NYC Low-Income Artist/Freelancer Relief Fund, a large-scale GoFundMe campaign, is also helping freelancers. A couple weeks ago I gave them info on the work I lost, and they sent me $150 out of their pooled funds—not 100% of the amount but they are helping a lot of us, check them out if you need or want to donate.
Every little bit helps, even a $5 tip from the button below. I’m sure a lot of you are screwed over as I am, but if you’re looking for people to help out, I could use it.
“He gets it! He knows music!”
“George Grella understood exactly.”
