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.
“Anyone who can write with insight and authority about Alas No Axis, Sonic Youth, Elvis Costello…Missy Mazzoli and William Britelle, and…Mahler…is okay in my book.”
“A reputable music blog.”
