Emergency Grants

The Conrad Cantzen Shoe Fund assists current entertainment industry union members, that are currently unemployed in the industry with the cost ($40 for shoes costing up to $100) of one new pair of shoes per year.

Entertainment Assistance Program (EAP) helps working entertainment professionals with counseling, advocacy, and emergency financial aid. Workshops offer guidance and expertise to help people handle their careers and personal lives. Services and offices available in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York.

The AIDS Initiative helps people learn how to live with and manage the disease through a comprehensive approach including advocacy for community services, crisis intervention and counseling, substance abuse and mental health services, financial assistance, referrals, support groups, legal referrals. Offices in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Must have a minimum of five years of industry employment with earnings of at least $6,500 for three of the last five years and demonstrate financial need.

Through Mental Health Services, social workers provide evaluation and referrals, intensive case management and short-term treatment to deal with a wide array of significant issues ranging from depression to eating disorders to performance anxiety. Referrals are made to a wide network of providers who are familiar with industry issues and offer high-quality, low-cost services. If necessary, the Fund provides short-term grants to cover these expenses. For individuals struggling with long-term psychiatric disabilities, The Fund helps to secure supportive housing, day treatment, vocational rehabilitation, psychiatric care and medication management. Services available in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

The Fund's Senior and Disabled Program utilizes a case management approach for entertainment professionals who are disabled or age 62 or older to help them remain independent in the community. Services available in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

The Emergency Assistance Program is intended to provide interim financial assistance to qualified artists 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.

ADMINISTERED BY THE ACTORS FUND. Emergency relief fund for AGMA members.

Emergency financial assistance for members in good standing.

A grant for freelance writers who, because of advancing age, illness, or disability, are unable to work.

Assists professional fine artists (painters, graphic artists, sculptors) and their families in times of emergency, disability, or bereavement.

ASCAP MEMBERS ONLY. Provides modest emergency assistance for emerging ASCAP Concert composers. Letters explaining need are accepted and addressed on a case by case basis.

Supports young, exceptionally talented operatic or classical music students of demonstrated merit in the New York Metropolitan area through individual coaching grants to assist with professional debuts or to further career development. Grants are based on talent and need.

Pension grants are usually awarded in the range of $400-$600/month to those elderly, retired opera singers and classical musicians who once had notable careers and who are now in documented need of financial assistance.

Offers grants-in-aid to qualified commercially published book authors who have experienced a financial emergency. Grants vary according to need, and are for authors who have suffered illness or other ailments which have caused financial hardship.

Currently tis award is only available to those with significant losses due to the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes. When/if a catastrophic disaster strikes and sufficient funding is available, CERF may offer special disaster relief grants of up to $5,000 for craft artists who have been seriously injured or whose homes or studios have been severely damaged as a result of the disaster. (Maximum disaster relief grants amounts may vary based upon the severity of the disaster, the number of artists affected, and the ability of CERF to raise funds.) The application procedure is the same as for an Emergency Grant. If an Emergency Grant is made to a craft artist before funds for disaster relief grants become available, the artist will automatically be considered for additional funding under a disaster relief grant. (All CERF grants must be reported to the IRS by the recipient as income.)

CERF's Emergency Grant is designed to provide immediate help to professional craft artists who want to maintain or re-establish their crafts making capacity after a recent career-threatening emergency. The maximum Emergency Grant is $1,500.