By Aman Jain. Originally published at ValueWalk.
COVID-19 may be less severe now, but certain groups have still not been able to recover financially from its impact. The state of New York has come forward to support one such group by offering stimulus checks to artists in the state. Eligible artists will get a stimulus check of $1000 through the Creatives Rebuild New York (CRNY) program.
Stimulus Checks To Artists: Who Will Get It?
Creatives Rebuild New York (CRNY) program was launched in the Spring of 2021 and is an extension of the Reimagine New York Commission. The objective of the program is to help artists earn a living wage, as well as re-design, re-build and beautify the state.
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Under the program, 2,400 artists across New York State will get $1,000 monthly for a period of 18 months. This program uses the $115 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, as well as $5 million grants from the Ford Foundation and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation to give stimulus checks to artists.
According to CRNY, an artist is anyone “who regularly engages in artistic or cultural practice.” The CRNY’s website lists arts and cultural practices to include media arts, music, oral traditions, craft, dance, design, theater, performance, film, art, literary arts, traditional arts, visual arts, interdisciplinary arts and social practice.
To be eligible for the stimulus checks an artist needs to be over the age of 18, must be a resident of the state and have an income less than the CRNY self-sufficiency standard. A point to note is that these stimulus checks are only for the artists in New York.
On April 15, the authorities will announce the names of the eligible recipients. The deadline to apply for the stimulus checks to artists is already over (March 25), while the applications opened on Feb. 14, 2022.
Another Program Offers Employment To Artists
Another part of the CRNY program, called the Artist Employment Program, will offer employment to artists. Under this program, selected artists working with community-based organizations will get about $65,000 plus benefits for two years.
This program will enable artists to focus on their art while working in collaboration with community-based organizations. Further, the collaborative organizations will get between $25,000 and $100,000 per year to fund the artists’ employment. These organizations, however, need to be tax-exempt public charities and cater to one or more of the communities’ parts of the CRNY program.
Artists were free to apply to either of the programs – the Artist Employment Program or the program offering monthly stimulus checks. The application date for the Artist Employment Program also ended on March 25.
Artists that aren’t selected for any of the programs will automatically get a newsletter informing them about other available resources and aid. Arts and culture contribute about $120 billion to New York State’s economy. However, the state lost about 50% of its performing arts jobs in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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