COVID-19 – WHAT CAN I DO?

Weigh In

Contact your elected representative(s) now. Federal legislation and funding for stimulus and recovery is actively ongoing and you can lend your voice to make sure the arts and artists are not left out. Americans for the Arts is leading the way and provides details on what you can do HERE.

You can also join campaigns being organized by SAG-AFTRA and Actors’ Equity Association.

APAP (the Association of Performing Arts Professionals) is doing important work in cataloging the impact of this crisis on the performing arts industry and community. You can take their Covid-19 impact survey HERE . Listen to their webinar on navigating Covid-19 for arts organizations HERE, and access a wealth of advocacy information including, important talking points, at their site HERE.

Find Help

The U.S. Small Business Administration is offering specialized, low-interest disaster relief loans which your organization may be able to benefit from. More information can be found HERE.

The Teaching Artists Guild has joined with NYC Arts in Education Roundtable, and others to present a webinar for teaching artists bracing for the impact of Covid-19. Find it HERE.

USITT has collected links to important information and assistance, including information on developing remote learning practices for professors and teaching artists who have been thrust into a remote teaching environment, HERE. USITT also has great educational resources online, from industry instructional videos, to digital resume and portfolio reviews. All of these resources can be found, HERE. A collection of reopening guides can be found, HERE.

IATSE has set up a portal HERE with links to important health and safety information for members and employers as well as updates on IATSE National Benefit Funds, and more. IATSE released COVID-19 reopening guidelines found HERE.

TCG is also working to forward information about dealing with the crisis, in particular resources for freelancers and teaching artists HERE.

Fractured Atlas has put together a list of resources, from emergency funding to mental health resources for artists and arts organizations, HERE.

Creative Capital is working to connect artists across disciplines with philanthropists and arts professionals to ensure all have access to necessary resources HERE.

The American Theatre Wing has created a Theatre Artists Relief Fund, as well as a well as a database of productions and artists affected by the shutdown. Learn more HERE.

The National Endowment for the Arts is distributing relief funds from the CARES Act to nonprofit arts organizations. More information can be found HERE.

A coalition of national arts grantmakers launched Artist Relief to provide rapid financial support to artists across disciplines who are facing financial crisis due to Covid-19. More information on the program and how to apply for the grant can be found HERE. 

NYC Dance Week has put together a list of various funding resources for artists across disciplines. The list can be found HERE.

All Freelance Artists should make use of this list of free resources and opportunities, HERE.

Yale put together best practices and advice for their faculty teaching online, but these resources, found HERE, are useful for all faculty.

HowlRound is producing many great resources and ways to convene and discuss, including their livestreaming discussions like this one, Look for the Helpers: Learnings and Teachings for Building Resilience.

Magnum has put together a comprehensive list of event technology training classes and workshop, HERE.

Arts Education Partnership put together an extensive list of resources for arts educators, HERE.

New York Foundation for the Arts compiled a list of emergency grants and resources for artists across the country, HERE.

Event Safety Alliance has created a Reopening Guide to address health and safety concerns for event and venue professionals. The guide is accessible, HERE.

Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance (MTEA) hosted a webinar, “Musical Theatre Education in COVID Times” and shared the corresponding resources, HERE.

Find Your Community and Create Art, Distance Be Damned

Join the #KeepMakingArt campaign HERE. The goal is to inspire and support educators & artists to keep making art despite the tremendous circumstances we are facing.

SETC is another site to visit for a variety of collected information, especially for a list of online community forums with vibrant, ongoing discussions and fellowship. Visit them HERE.

USITT is calling any Designers that had shows cancelled due to Covid-19 to send their designs to them here and they will be featured on the USITT social media channels. To see designs shared already, take a look at USITT’s instagram.

The Theatre Development Fund is sharing a wealth of live-streamed and prerecorded performances to watch from the comfort of your home. You can find them HERE.

For individuals in the entertainment industry looking to continue learning and training during this time, Stage Directions has compiled a list of various e-learning opportunities HERE, along with arts streaming services and other fun ways to remain engaged.

ATHE has created the Virtual Guest Artist Program to help address the challenges of performance-based classes transitioning to an online format. Learn more HERE if you are interested in taking part as an instructor or in bringing a virtual guest artist to your students.

Backstage launched The Slate – an all-new digital and on-camera series featuring insights and direct feedback from casting directors, acting coaches, personal trainers, agents, actors and creators.

The Department of Theatre and Dance at Wayne State University have created a virtual company to engage with audiences of all ages, sharing online performances and tutorials. Learn more HERE.

The New York Times has been running several articles covering the dynamism of our theaters and theater artists in creating performances and content available through the digital realm. Here’s a good place to start.

Artists and arts organizations around the world are finding new and creative ways to continue creating and sharing their art in a digital format. Here are some articles, resources, and organizations to enjoy from home: American Theatre, Andrew Lloyd Webber – The Show Must Go On, Dallas Culturemap, The Kennedy Center, The Metropolitan Opera, The National Theatre, New York Classical Review, Stratford Festival, The Public, 12 Places to Watch Dance Online, Time Out’s weekly streaming round-up, and more.

Be of Service

New York State has announced that they will provide support to businesses that want to make masks and gowns for the medical community. If you have a shop that’s shuttered due to performance cancellations, and the resources to fabricate PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), this could be an option for keeping artists working in some capacity. For more information you should email Empire State Development at COVID19supplies@esd.ny.gov.

Share

This page will be revised as new information and resources come to us. Please let us know if you have information we can include, if you’re launching a new project, campaign, service, or platform. We want to know about it and share it. You can email info@urta.com.