Emergency Support Resources
Artists & Arts Organizations
STEP 1: SUPPORT SERVICES
STEP 2: Apply for Support
Other Arts Focused Emergency Grants
Craft Artists Emergency Relief Grant
CERF+ offers $3,000 Emergency Relief Grants to craft artists who experienced a recent and substantially disruptive emergency or disaster.
To qualify for an Emergency Relief Grant, applicants need to be craft artists who are 18 years of age or older. They must have been living and working in the U.S. or U.S. Territories for the past two years. Additionally, they should not have received an Emergency Relief Grant in the previous year or exceeded the maximum lifetime limit of 4 grants.
To apply, visit our website and complete the online application with supporting documentation. Incomplete applications will not be considered. For questions, contact programs@cerfplus.org or (802) 229-2306.
Craft Futures Fund
The Center for Craft is reactivating the Craft Futures Fund grant program for emergency relief so that we may direct essential resources to support and care for the artists and community of Western North Carolina.
MusiCares Disaster Relief Grant
MusiCares offers an Emergency Financial Assistance Program providing financial grants for music people in crisis.
Musicians Foundation Financial Assistance Grants
The application for one-time financial assistance grants is open to professional musicians across all genres. If you are a professional musician in a specific time of need, please explore below to see if you might qualify for a financial grant to pay an essential bill.
Apply for the Musicians Foundation Financial Assistance Grant>>
IBMA Trust Fund
The Fund helps eligible bluegrass professionals who are currently or have previously been significantly involved in the industry. This includes but is not limited to, artists, composers, broadcasters, media representatives, event producers, agents, educators, managers, and employees of record companies. You do not have to be a member of the IBMA to receive aid from the IBMA Trust Fund. Please refer to the application form for more information on eligibility.
NIVF: National Independent Venue Relief Fund
Administered by the National Independent Venue Foundation (NIVF), a 501(c)(3) organization, the NIVF Emergency Relief Fund (ERF) is dedicated to providing economic relief to independent, live performance venues and promoters, both for-profit and nonprofit, across the United States experiencing a critically severe emergency due to circumstances beyond their control.
Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and reviewed for eligibility as received throughout the year. Funding will be subject to availability and distributed according to a grant agreement. Please note NIVA membership is not a prerequisite for applying to NIVF Emergency Relief Fund.
Jazz Musicians of America Disaster Relief for Musicians
The Jazz Musicians of America team is on the ground as soon as possible and finds out first-hand what needs to be replaced and repaired. Their social workers go home to home and offer emotional support and provide basic necessities like food, emergency supplies, and clothes for children. They replace instruments and equipment, help with car repairs, and enlist professionals to decontaminate houses to ensure a families’ safety.
Newport Festivals Musician Relief Funds
In November of 2021, NFF partnered with Rainey Day Fund to support marginalized voices in Roots and Country Music. To launch the partnership, the Rainey Day family made a donation of $45,220 to our fund. All donated funds from Rainey Day will be used to support BIPOC, LGBTQ, and disabled musicians and content creators.
Entertainment Community Fund
Emergency Financial Assistance is available to eligible performing arts and entertainment professionals:
- In times of unexpected critical need
- To assist towards basic living expenses such as health care, housing and utilities to prevent eviction or shut-offs
Dramatists Guild Foundation’s Crisis Relief Grants
The Dramatists Guild Foundation’s Crisis Relief Grants are designed to assist writers experiencing unexpected financial, personal, or medical crises. Financial assistance is available to support housing and utilities costs, medical bills, groceries, legal fees, and other essential expenses.
Rauschenberg Emergency Grants Visual Arts, Digital Arts, and Dance
Rauschenberg Medical Emergency Grants:
Provides 1-time grants of up to $5,000 for recent unexpected medical, dental, or mental health emergencies. Open to artists in financial need who are practicing in the visual arts, film/video/electronic/digital arts, and choreography.
Rauschenberg Dancer Emergency Grants:
Provides 1-time grants of up to $3,000 to professional dancers in need who have a dire financial emergency as a result of a loss or lack of current live performance work, because of circumstances beyond your control.
**Artists residing in any county which has received a FEMA Emergency or Disaster Declaration related to Hurricane Helene are eligible.**
The Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Emergency Grant from Painters, Printmakers, and Sculptors
The Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Emergency Grant program is intended to provide interim financial assistance to qualified painters, printmakers, and sculptors whose needs are the result of an unforeseen, catastrophic incident, and who lack the resources to meet that situation.
Each grant is given as one-time assistance for a specific emergency, examples of which are fire, flood, or emergency medical need.
More info about The Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Emergency Grant>>
Mountain Area Cultural Resources Emergency Network (MACREN)
MACREN provides disaster assistance to cultural institutions in the Asheville, North Carolina region. For assistance contact Jeff Futch at 828-274-6789.
WNDB Emergency Grants for Diverse Writers
WNDB provides emergency grants to diverse authors and illustrators, publishing professionals, and educators who are experiencing dire financial need. We aim to bolster these marginalized groups by giving grants between $500 and $1,000 each. Since 2020, the Emergency Grants provided nearly 130 grants.
National Heritage Responders
The National Heritage Responders, a team of trained conservators and collections care professionals administered by the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation, are available 24/7 to provide advice and guidance.
Cultural institutions, arts organizations, and artists and performing groups can call the National Heritage Responders hotline: 202.661.8068.
Members of the public and individual artists who have questions about saving family heirlooms and personal collections can email the National Heritage Responders at NHRpublichelpline@culturalheritage.org.
HENTF’s Save Your Family Treasures guidance is available at fema.gov/assistance/save-family-treasures. Here you can find the downloadable FEMA fact sheets “After the Flood: Advice for Salvaging Damaged Family Treasures” and “Salvaging Water-Damaged Family Valuables and Heirlooms,” available in multiple languages.
STEP 3: Help Us Raise Much Needed Aid
Want to help? Make a donation!
If you would like to make a donation to support creatives in WNC impacted by Hurricane Helene, you can either donate directly to ArtsAVL, or to the WNC Tip It Forward campaign supporting culinary and creative workers in Western North Carolina.
If you are interested in making a large contribution via an alternate giving method such as a donor advised fund or gift of stock, please contact our Development Director Rebecca Lynch at rebecca@artsavl.org. We encourage all gifts of $1,000 or below to be made via our online donation link below. ArtsAVL is a nonprofit 501(c)3; EIN 58-137-1546 – Asheville Area Arts Council (dba ArtsAVL).
