Cultural Solidarity Coalition Announces New Fund for NYC Artists and Cultural Workers

Right now, 62% of arts and cultural workers are entirely unemployed, including more than 69% of Black and Indigenous artists and artists of color. Creative workers faced an average individual loss of $22,000 each in 2020. The new Cultural Solidarity Coalition is inviting NYC arts and cultural organizations and others who care to join them in building and supporting the Cultural Solidarity Fund for individual artists and cultural workers to ensure that these artists and workers make it through this critical time. This new Fund will award $500 relief microgrants to individual artists and cultural workers. Priority will be given to Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), immigrant, and disabled artists and cultural workers. If you are an arts or cultural organization in NYC, join the Cultural Solidarity Coalition in campaigning to make a meaningful contribution to the Cultural Solidarity Fund.

The Cultural Solidarity Coalition's message to its fellow NYC arts and cultural organizations is simple: When we come together in solidarity, we let our artists and workers know that we see them and stand with them; we let our funders know that the entire ecosystem needs support; and we let our elected officials know that we will get through this time only by working together to make sure the city we envision supports artists, workers, and cultural organizations of every size in every neighborhood. When we come together in the spirit of generosity, we all show that we care.

With a challenge grant of $25,000 from The Indie Theater Fund, an initial group of arts and cultural organizations have raised $50,000 towards the Cultural Solidarity Coalition's first benchmark goal of $75,000. More organizations and individuals are invited to join and increase the Fund's capacity to give by sponsoring one or more artists/cultural workers today. For those in need of relief, applications will open mid-February 2021 with details at www.culturalsolidarityfund.org

"The Indie Theater Fund is thrilled to partner with the larger cultural community to create and operate the Cultural Solidarity Fund. Artists have been living on the edge since way before this pandemic. The global majority, immigrant and disabled artists have been excluded from support year after year, decade after decade. As a community we must join together to create a more fair and equitable environment for workers to thrive. This show of solidarity from cultural institutions, led by the incomparable LEIMAY, a small, indie arts organization, even under the most difficult circumstances, is a beautiful example of the world I want to live in." -Randi Berry, Executive Director of the Indie Theater Fund

"As a small community-based artist-run organization, LEIMAY has spent the past two decades learning about the power of community and witnessing resilience through resource sharing. Spearheading this Cultural Solidarity Fund is both an act of action in solidarity with artists and cultural workers, and an opportunity to inspire coalition-building among art and cultural organizations of different sizes and structures."-Ximena Garnica, LEIMAY Artistic Co-director

About the Cultural Solidarity Coalition

In the spirit of coalition and resource sharing, NYC arts and cultural organizations have come together to partner with The Indie Theater Fund to build and support the CULTURAL SOLIDARITY FUND. Born from the Culture@3 daily calls, this initiative is organized by LEIMAY with a growing group of cultural and arts organizations of all sizes and structures including Bronx Arts Ensemble, Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, Dancewave, Dance Parade, Elevator Repair Service Theater, El Museo del Barrio, HERE, Hi-ARTS, José Limón Dance Foundation, Mark Morris Dance Group, New Yorkers for Culture & Arts, The Bushwick Starr, Performance Space New York, and Theatre for a New Audience.

As of February 1st, sponsoring organizations include: 651 ARTS, Asian American Arts Alliance, Bronx Arts Ensemble, Bronx Council on the Arts, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Cherry Lane Theatre, Children Museum of Arts, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Dancewave, El Museo del Barrio, Elevator Repair Service Theater, Gibney Dance, HERE, Hi-ARTS, Hispanic Society Museum & Library, Ice Theatre of New York, International Arts Relations / Intar Theater, Kinesis Project Dance Theatre, Kupferberg Center for the Arts, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, League of Independent Theater, LEIMAY, Mabou Mines Development Foundation, Mark Morris Dance Group, MCC Theater, Movement Research, National Black Theatre, New York Live Arts, New York Theatre Workshop, New Yorkers for Culture & Arts, Performance Space New York, Queens Theatre, Rooftop Films, Roundabout Theatre Company, Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden, Stefanie Nelson Dancegroup, Symphony Space, The 52nd Street Project, The Bushwick Starr, The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, The Field, The House Foundation for the Arts, The Indie Theater Fund, The José Limón Dance Foundation, The Kitchen, The New Group, The Playwrights Realm, The Tank, TheaterLab, Theatre for a New Audience, UrbanGlass, Voices of Ascension.