Creative Portland seeks to raise $50K in emergency relief for local artists
Courtesy / Creative Portland
"Hear Here 2020," a show produced in January by Creative Portland, featured a wide variety of local artists performing on stage at Merrill Auditorium.
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To help Portland artists make ends meet during the coronavirus crisis, the city's nonprofit arts agency is seeking to raise $50,000 in emergency relief.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Creative Portland had raised $10,000 of the total for the Portland Artist Relief Fund, according to the organization's executive director, Dinah Minot. She told Mainebiz there had been lots of small donations so far, mostly from people with nothing to spare themselves.
"God bless them," she said, appealing to the broader business community to step up with donations.
"Together the business community can help by offering a strand of support and sustain artists in serious need," said Minot, a former "Saturday Night Live" talent scout who has led Creative Portland since October 2016.
"Applicants ineligible for unemployment have no other funding sources during this time when a band-aid can actually help, until we heal."
Once raised, the aim is to disperse $500 stipends to 100 artists, most of whom are self-employed.
Creative Portland said that while it recognizes it doesn't have the capacity to help all artists recover, it will continue to raise funds for as along as the unpredictable pandemic unfolds.
In Portland, nonprofit arts and cultural organizations are a major contributor to the city's economy, as demonstrated in a 2017 report by the city.
The analysis showed an economic impact of $75.6 million in 2015, up from $49 million in 2012.
Those figures, based on a survey of 46 Portland nonprofit arts and culture groups, fed into a nationwide report by Americans for the Arts, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group working to advance the arts in the United States.
"Portland is proud of our wonderful arts community, a magnet for attracting empty nesters, young families, and visitors year-round," Minot told Mainebiz this week in her calling for community action.
"With our local artists, chefs and creatives who knit together this unique and beloved fabric of Portland's creative economy, we can project the domino effect" of the crisis, she added. "Everybody is vulnerable."
Put another way, she says: "We're all in the same boat — let's keep artists afloat!"
In normal times, Minot runs Creative Portland out of a cheerful space on Free Street, which hosts regular juried art exhibitions and Monday-morning coffee gatherings following First Friday Art Walks.
All those activities are on hold during the ongoing crisis, which has also forced galleries to close and cultural performances to be canceled.
More about the fund
The Portland Artist Relief fund is accepting donations online.
Applications from artists will be selected by a review committee of arts community leader and stakeholders representing Creative Portland, Indigo Arts Alliance, Running with Scissors, SPACE Gallery, and Damnationland/StoryBoard.
The application, which will provide specific requirements for eligibility, is slated to be online by March 30, and funds are to be dispersed by mid-May.
In addition to the fund, Creative Portland has also launched a crowdfunding effort on Facebook for smaller donation amounts, allowing everyone in the community to support the arts community.
"We know there won't be enough to make up for lost income," Creative Portland said, "but we hope we can at least try to help artists in dire need who are not eligible for unemployment."
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