So, this might be an interesting issue. How's a gal going to find grants when the arts  in general have no more money to give?  (Want to see a list of all of the places who had NEA funding taken away from them so far? Here's a list.)

Well, there are still foundations and organizations out there who don't rely solely on federal funding, so I will try to find those. But wow. It is rough out there.

Okay. Since I seem to treat this newsletter as my own personal diary, I'm going to tell you, it feels almost unethical to be writing about anything other the multitude of atrocities that are going on in our country right now. But I know that in order to help others, we first must make sure we ourselves are surviving, and I mean that literally. We're much more helpful when we're alive! So if you scroll to near the bottom of this letter, you'll find a list of organizations that can help provide emergency financial assistance.  (Or to get there even faster, you can always visit the "Other Resources" page on The Episcopal Actors' Guild's website: actorsguild.org/resources.)

I hope you're finding the occasional respite every now and then. I started listening to Amy Poehler's new podcast Good Hang because her voice makes me feel like I'm getting wrapped up in a warm blanket and being tickled at the same time. And also, I have something fun to share:

Casting Directors--our champions! I don't know about you, but I love taking casting director workshops. I mean it! It always feels like they're rooting for us, and I find their tiny adjustments to be SO HELPFUL and noticeable.

But these workshops--GEEZ. So expensive. Except through the SAG-AFTRA Foundation! They offer free ones, so I hope you're all taking advantage of that: sagaftra.foundation/casting-access

Now, I'm no SAG-AFTRA Foundation, but I am trying to organize some casting director workshops via Zoom on the cheap ($25-$40 per class, I'm hoping?). And I am very very very excited to say that our first workshop will be hosted by the Exceptionally Honorable...

More details about Erica and the class in a future issue, but save the date for July 16th from 2-5pm. Via Zoom, baby.

I'm sure we all have different opinions on these things. Personally, I have let go of expectations that I'll be called into their offices and think of them as educational. Mostly. BUT. Idk. I'd still rather have them know me than not know me! 

I'd love to see if people are interested in this, so please let me know if you are. She caps the class at 16. This doesn't reserve you a seat or anything, but if a billion people are interested, I'll see if she can do two classes!

Next, let's talk about:

MONEY!!!

Ah, money. We all love it. No one has it. Well. I could be projecting, I suppose. I feel like, as an artist, I used to really put money on the  backburner, but now I think that money is amazing and important, especially if it's in the right hands!! And WE all possess the right hands, right?? Right! Or left! So I think we should all think about making more money so that we can do good things with it. Or not. It's your life, babeee.

My personal goal in life, for a long time, was to sustain myself (financially) through acting alone. That's all that I wanted. It still is, to a certain extent, but nowadays I find that perspective to be a little closed-minded. Since everything in life is so uncertain, I think it's a much smarter idea to set up multiple streams of income. Do I know how to do this? In theory, yes. In practice, HELLS NO. But I'm kind of hoping we can all work on this together and share our successes. 

AND WHERE CAN WE SHARE?? Right on the website!!! Forgive me, I am very excited because it took me way longer than it should have to figure out how to install a forum right on there, but now that I did, I am over the moon. Gotta grab happiness wherever it comes from, amiright? 

I am also so happy that we don't have to resort to Facebook groups to talk to each other, even if their design is exponentially better. Full discloz, I did try to set up a Facebook group first, but first I had to join as a regular human. It worked for a second but then when I logged back in the next day, it told me, gravely, that my account had been suspended. Was it because I said, "I don't care for Zuckerberg" out loud the other day and the internet heard me and now I am being punished in the most devastating way possible? Who's to say. But joke's on you, Zuckerberg. With our group, you could have been a millionaire.

Anyway. Someday soon, I will propose that we all find ways to make an extra $10 a day, and I'd like us all to share what worked. So here's the place at which to do so:

Alright, on to the main event: grants! Let's see what's out there these days.

Omg how excited was I to see this one!! It's for people who make films about bikes!!!  🚲🚲🚲 4eva!!!!! (Sorry, I promise I won't talk like this anymore. But. BIKEZ REWL.) 

This Grant Fund supports emerging BIPOC filmmakers in sharing their bicycle stories. If this is you, get on it! The deadline's in a week. Details are a little sparse, but I think the grant amounts to $1,500. 

The Ryan Hudak LGBTQ+ Dramatic Writing Award is an $8,000 cash grant to be awarded to one New York State-based playwright or screenwriter who self-identifies as LGBTQ+.

The Barbara Hammer Lesbian Experimental Filmmaking Grant is an annual grant that will be awarded to lesbians for making visionary moving-image art. Work can be experimental animation, experimental documentary, experimental narrative, cross-genre, or solely experimental.

For the youngins! 15 to 18-year old visual, literary or performing artists may apply.

For the do-gooders! This one's for individuals with charitable, religious, artistic, educational, and scientific projects that promote the good of others.  😍

GOWANUS!!! Check this out, this is new: This program will cover the entire cost of one year’s rent for low-income and upwardly mobile Gowanus-based artists working any medium and at any stage of their career. The Arts Gowanus Community Artist Fellowship will also provide material and production support.

The Awesome Foundation is a global community advancing the interest of awesome in the universe, $1000 at a time.  If you have an awesome project in mind, go ahead and submit!

For artists who have sudden, unanticipated opportunities to present their work to the public when there is insufficient time to seek other sources of funding or

for artists who incur unexpected or unbudgeted expenses for projects close to completion with committed exhibition or performance dates.

Loghaven invites emerging and established artists working in architecture, dance, interdisciplinary art, music, theater, visual art, and writing to apply. All resident artists receive a living stipend of $850 per week in addition to travel and freight reimbursement.

Support for Artists: Funds creative commissions to individual artists across the state. Applicants must apply through a non-profit fiscal sponsor. NYSCA embraces the rich diversity of artmaking across New York, and applicants from all artistic practices and disciplines are encouraged to apply. Grant awards are $10,000; fiscal sponsors may retain a maximum of $500 for administrative costs.

 

Support for Targeted Opportunities: (Formerly Special Opportunities) The opportunities provide funding for creative performance residencies, subsidized rehearsal spaces for all performing art forms, and folk arts apprenticeships.  

For artists who are within the first five years of what they hope to be a successful artistic career. Accepted media includes painting, drawing, illustration, photography, collage, 2D mixed-media, video or film.

For Australian and International artists from various fields – visual art, installation, multimedia, performance, literature, music, photography, filmmaking, and curating.

Not a grant, but a very cool thing from The Entertainment Community Fund: "The Creative Entrepreneur Project equips performing artists and entertainment professionals with resources to successfully navigate the entrepreneurial journey and increase their income and independence through business ownership."

Applicants must be employed and working at least 32 hours a week as an arts worker at a NYC-based arts entity (non-profit/for-profit institutions, galleries, education, freelance, etc.).

For NYC-residing performing artists who self-identify as Asian/Chinese American or Asian/Chinese immigrant with a goal of continuing their career in the United States.

A variety of disciplines are accepted including, but not limited to, visual arts, media/new genre, performance, architecture, film/video, interdisciplinary arts, sound art and music composition, and choreography.

For artists who create choreography, film, literature, musical composition, painting, performance, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and video.

A full-time, paid, yearlong development program for television comedy writers with unique voices and from underrepresented communities.

$20-$50/hr

They have rehearsal studios,  a theater, and a podcast studio.

Apply for free performance space!

Quick interruption--I found those last two websites through IndieSpace's Discord server. Do y'all know IndieSpace? You should. I'm not going to do them justice by trying to explain the extent of their work, but they are HUMONGOUS ADVOCATES for theatre artists. Make sure to check out their lottery-based microgrants for mental health. Here are some of their other programs: IndieSpace Programs. 

And now, job postings:

Set your own rates

starting at $175 per article

"We're looking for Costco, Trader Joe's, and/or Aldi shoppers to write posts for our grocery diaries."

$80-$90 per hour, one hour per week

The Virtual Senior Center program as part of Selfhelp Community Services is seeking a passionate and knowledgeable Music Instructor to lead a virtual one-hour weekly class on Fridays focusing on Broadway musicals and operas, spanning from the late 1900s through today. This is an exciting opportunity to educate and inspire Older Adults by exploring iconic musical productions, renowned performers, and the historical and cultural context that shaped them.

Act Me a Story is a great organization that hires actors to read children's books out loud on camera  (recorded, not live). And they hire directors to direct those actors! Well, "hire" might be the wrong word...unless they've changed things since I worked there, you get paid in Amazon gift cards. Still, in my experience, it was a very low time commitment, and it was very fun. Contact Mona Bapat for more info if you're interested and say I sent you! actmeastory@gmail.com

I haven't looked through this site too thoroughly yet, but it looks like it might be a good place to search for remote jobs: https://www.builtinnyc.com/jobs/remote

$50/hr plus all transportation and a $100 planning fee per semester

"Working in prison as a teaching artist requires a special set of skills and experience. We seek teaching artists with advanced arts training and experience as educators, especially in underserved communities. Becoming an RTA teaching artist is not a casual process. Criminal background checks, orientation, fingerprinting, and yearly TB tests are required by New York State. These complex logistics make RTA unsuitable as a term project or internship. Still interested? Wonderful! Send a resume to employment@rta-arts.org."

~

$20-$25/hr

They need people who speak language other than English to help out with the June 24th elections in NYC. 

If you're interested in this kind of work, check out their website, too! It looks like they have freelance in-person and remote jobs for interpreters available.  libertylanguageservices.com/join-our-team

~

This salary is not listed. ChatGPT seems to think it'd be something between $74K and $120K per year?

Teach courses in beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels of acting. Must have an MFA in Performance or Directing.

~

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$30-$35/hr, Full-time

Paley Center seeks a full time Museum Educator to research, develop, schedule, and facilitate Re-creating Radio Workshops, in addition to multi-session Podcast Production Workshops for teens and tweens, and additionally to design and run arts and crafts projects for families on selected Saturdays throughout the year. This is a non-exempt, hourly position and standard work week is Wednesday to Sunday.

~

At least $20/hr (ask for more!)

The Program Assistant provides customer service and program support to the Dance Center’s 4,000+ weekly visitors.

~

$123,600—$151,850 USD

Anyone into casting and fitness? Because this job sounds fun. Ooh maybe you can cast yourself!! :D

~

$25-$35/hr

Be the face of Everyday Dose at community activations, pop-ups, street team initiatives, and key wellness events.

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$20-$25/hr

'Represent premium and luxury brands at events and activations.

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$25-$30/hr

Host in-store tasting events by representing their specialty + niche products.

~

*If you're into brand ambassador jobs, you can find lots of opportunities on Indeed. But I suggest checking out the employee reviews on Glassdoor before applying to any position!*

~

(Just highlighting the ones that I haven't mentioned before.)

Community Service Society (to prevent eviction)

Filmmakers, here's a handy site if you're looking for festivals to submit your films to: filmfreeway.com/festivals

Has anyone participated in the library's Across a Crowded Room before? This summer-long program puts lyricists, composers, and book writers into a room together to form connections, collaborate, and ultimately create new 20-minute musical theater pieces to present at the Library for the Performing Arts.

They'll need directors and actors soon, too, so stay tuned!

Well lookee here, another great resource from IndieSpace. The "Growing Small Budget Orgs" compiled all kinds of tools for the trust theatre-maker, including lists of fundraising and ticketing sites, tax experts, insurance providers, law firms, and more. SB Orgs Toolkit

This one's helpful, too, particularly for prop/lighting/equipment resources: Cultural Resources

Does anyone ever work in Philly? Think about it, if you haven't before! What is it, like a 2-hr ride on the Chinatown bus? (Does that still exist? I used to take that Philly-->NYC route all the time. It was 10 bucks!) It's a wonderful city with a tight-knit theatre community. You can see audition postings here: theatrephiladelphia.org/find-a-job-in-the-arts

And for film, Heery Loftus Casting is good to know (hey there, Abbott Elementary): castinghl.com/for-actors

They cast background, as well.

You know what, maybe get on Genuine Real People's casting list, too. https://genuinerealpeople.com/get-cast/. They're another company I worked for, briefly, and I like them a lot. They're allowed to cast actors in their commercials and project sometimes, as long as you still match their specs.

In the next issue, I might talk about YouTube more. Whenever I google ways to make money online, the same kinds of things pop up: create digital products, teach a course, write e-books, blah blah blah. Now, some of these things may work for some people, but I feel like it must be impossible to sell any of that without an audience. So maybe we can all brainstorm about ways to grow an audience. I think YouTube might be a good avenue, since of we all know one thing, it's how to cheese for the camera!

In fact, I recorded the shittiest thing ever just an hour ago! I'm kind of a learn-by-doing sort of person, so I just whipped out the camera and started talking about things I know about. Should I have planned more? Probably! But I am very interested to see how it's received, because I feel like the feedback will help clear a path for me. Also, that sentiment alone is pretty delusional. I have 7 subscribers. But...it was really fun and I recommend doing it yourself. I'll watch!!  (Here's mine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCtl2cA7xAg. And guess what, I put it on Spotify, too, as a podcast [I think??] because I want to know how to do that, too!)

Yo, if you are trying to do this but don't quite know how, here's what I did: I recorded a video using my computer. I did it through a site called Riverside.fm, but I think I could have just used the Video app on my laptop. Or gosh, now that I think about it, I probably should have just done it on my phone! Much better picture quality.

Anyway, then I downloaded the video. Then I uploaded it to YouTube. Then I uploaded it to the Spotify Creators page!  creators.spotify.com/pod/dashboard/home

Let me know how it goes.

That's all for now, my contacts are drying up. Remember, if you know of any grants, jobs, or resources that you'd like to share, just reply to this email and let me know! I'll check them out and include them in the next letter if they're a good fit. Also, never hesitate to tell me if you want something more or something less out of this newsletter. It's still fairly new, and I want it to be as helpful as possible. Your thoughts are going to be what makes it better!

PS: Would anyone like to be a volunteer virtual reader to help out with others' self-tape auditions? If you're interested, your email address and phone number (and website, if you have one) will be added to a list that would be sent out to fellow actors in need of a reader. And of course, you can use the list yourself when you're in need of a reader, or if you just feel like practicing!

If you would like to be added to the list please respond with your contact info and website (if applicable). 

PPS: Since this whole newsletter was like sadistly rambly, I think I'll put some action-item buttons down here, in case I asked questions that you may have forgotten about.