Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the creative community has been struggling to stay afloat amidst project cancellations and income loss.  Bandwagon has compiled a non-exhaustive list of resources globally, as well as for Philippines and Singapore, that may be helpful for creatives in such times. The list will be continually updated as and when additional resources surface.

Read below to find out more. 

Worldwide 

Financial support 

Artist + Activist Relief Fund 

This fund, created by The Soze Foundation, TaskForce and Invisible Hand, supports artists + activists whose work has been impacted by COVID-19. Applications are currently closed but you can sign onto the waitlist. 

Find out more here. 

The Creator Fund 

ConvertKit has established a fund to provide financial assistance to active creators who are experiencing financial hardship due to COVID-19

Find out more here. 

Musicares COVID-19 Relief Fund

Music industry professionals may apply for grants up to $1000 to compensate for cancelled work that was scheduled and lost.

Find out more here. 

Spotify for Artists

Spotify is in the process of launching a feature that will enable artists to fundraise directly from fans, which will allow artists to direct listeners to their preferred fundraising destination on their profile pages. 

Sign up here. 

Direct Fan-Support Button on Soundcloud 

Soundcloud created a button for your SoundCloud profile to connect your preferred way to receive direct fan support including Kickstarter, Patreon, Bandcamp, PayPal, and more

Find out more here. 

Soundcloud's Artist Accelerator Programme

Soundcloud committing $10M to help fuel the careers of independent artists upstreamed from Repost by SoundCloud into its artist services offering, Repost Select. 

Find out more here.

Women Photograph + Nikon Grants 

$5,000 grants will support photography projects from visual journalists working in a documentary capacity. Five grants are available, one of which will be earmarked for a non-binary or transgender photographer.

Find out more here. 

The Photographer Fund

Format created the Photographer Fund to support independent photographers who are facing unprecedented financial hardships in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, and will be offering up to $500 per person.

Find out more here. 

Opportunities 

Lifeboat

International platform connecting photographers with those who wish to support their work. Artists can list prints and and books to sell on the site. 

Find out more here. 

Four Walls Short Film Festival

SYRP has teamed up with Manfrotto and Joby to launch the Four Walls Film Festival. All you need to do is make a 1-5 minute short film made entirely in isolation. You can shoot on a phone, camera or any device of your choice. There will be over $20, 000 in prizes across 5 categories.

Deadline for entries is 14 May 2020.

Find out more here. 

Digital Resources

Class Central - Free Ivy League courses

Ivy League universities are offering free online courses amid COVID-19 lockdown. 

Check them out here. 

Audible Stories

Audible is offering free audio books for kids and teens while schools are closed. 

Check it out here. 

Berklee MOOCs

Berklee is offering a variety of open online courses from songwriting to music therapy. The courses feature Grammy-winning vibraphonist Gary Burton and Grammy-winning producer and engineer Prince Charles Alexander, among many others.

Check them out here. 

Sound Academy: Free Online Webinars

Sennheiser has announced series of webinars. Tune in online in the coming weeks to learn about a wide range of topics, from RF and microphone basics, to roundtable discussions with sound engineers, as well as a chance to put your questions to our application engineering team.

Check them out here. 

Ableton Live 10 Suite

Ableton Live 10 is offering a free 90-day trial.  Make your own killer beats with all the features within the software, which includes 56 audio and MIDI effects, and 13 instruments. 

Check it out here. 

Logic Pro

Apple's DAW software Logic Pro is available for free for 90 days.

Check it out here. 

The Guggenheim Musuem

The Guggenheim Museum has released over 200 Modern Art books online for free. 

Check it out here. 

The Museum of Modern Art free courses

The Museum of Modern Art is offering free online art classes. 

Check them out here. 

Affinity 

Affinity is offering a free 90-day trial of the Mac and Windows versions of the whole Affinity suite, as well as a 50% discount for purchases. The trial offer will last till 20 May. 

Check it out here. 

Philippines

Government aid 

NCCA’s Assistance Program for Cultural Workers Under the State of Calamity

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) will be offering P4 million cash assistance to artists and cultural workers displaced by the pandemic. 800 beneficiaries will receive P5,000 each net of tax during the extended quarantine period. Freelance artists and cultural workers without regular income or with no benefits will be given priority.

Find out more here. 

DEAR LIVE! For Displaced Freelance AV Live Performance Workers

The FDCP DEAR (Disaster Emergency Assistance and Relief) Program is a fund by the Film Development Council of the Philippines that provides financial assistance to its stakeholders who are directly affected by a major natural disaster or public health emergency.

Find out more here. 

DEAR PRESS! For Displaced Freelance Entertainment Press

P5,000 financial aid will be offered to qualified freelance entertainment press members such as editors, writers and reporters who have been affected by the Covid-19 situation. 

Find out more here. 

Community resources

I Lost My Gig (PH)

I Lost My Gig (PH) crowd-sources its responses and tallies them up to derive a rough gauge of the impact of COVID-19 on the creative industry, and also offers resources from gigs to support groups available for creatives. 

Find out more here. 

Para Sa Sining #HomeNotAlone

#HomeNotAlone is a fundraising project for the Filipino Artist Community, intended for performing artists, cultural workers, and production crews who are in need of immediate support during this time of crisis. 

Find out more here. 

Open House Fundraiser Beneficiary

The Artists Welfare Project, Philstage, SPIT, Third World Improv and the Theater Actors Guild, in partnership with Ticket2Me, have collaborated on an online fundraising project called Open House to provide financial assistance to displaced freelance workers. Each qualified beneficiary will get Php 2,000 cash aide to be disbursed by Artists Welfare Project Inc.

Find out more here. 

Lockdown Cinema Club 

The Lockdown Cinema Club is an initiative by Independent Filipino filmmakers to reach and support Independent Filipino film workers affected by COVID-19. The project introduces a collection of films from the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries to the public in a campaign to raise monetary donations for the most vulnerable members of the Filipino independent film community.

Check them out here. 

Filipinomads Creative Network

This is a database for companies, employers, co-creatives, and business owners who might still be hiring. Filipino creatives can leave their information on the list for potential clients. 

Check it out here. 

Singapore

Government aid

Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme (SIRS)

Through the Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme (SIRS), you can receive three direct cash payments of $3,000 in May, July and October, amounting to a total of $9,000. Eligible persons will be automatically informed through letter and SMS, and will receive your first payout in end-May. Those who meet eligibility but don’t automatically qualify can apply through NTUC.

Find out more here. 

Temporary Relief Fund (TRF)

The Temporary Relief Fund supports lower- and middle-income Singaporeans and Permanent Residents who have lost their income and need immediate financial help with basic living expenses. It provides a one-off cash payout of $500 in April 2020.

Find out more here. 

Capability Development Scheme for the Arts (CDSA) 

NAC will provide a one-time CDSA for eligible arts organisations and individuals to encourage upskilling, and grow organisational capabilities. Eligible organisations and individuals may apply for the Grant to support upskilling through local courses and programmes. It will be enhanced to raise the maximum funding quantum for organisations and SEPs, and cover a wider group of Self-Employed Persons.

The CDSA is open for application for a limited time period from 16 March - 30 June 2020. Applications will close on 5pm on 30 June. 

Find out more here.  

Digital Presentation Grant for the Arts (DPG)

The grant aims to support the presentation of new or existing work from May 2020 onwards by arts groups and practitioners, including SEPs, in digital form or via digital medium. NAC welcomes proposals which include creative means to develop digital projects while working from home. Arts and culture organisations as well practitioners can also submit proposals for future projects that may involve several people working in the same venue once circuit breaker measures are lifted. Successful applicants will receive up to $20,000 per project. 

Applications are open till 30 June 2020, 5pm. 

Find out more here. 

IMDA Public Service Content (PSC) Fund 

Mediacorp, Viddsee, and SPH will commission short-form content for their digital platforms by calling for proposals. Media companies and talent can begin conceptualising and submitting their proposals to be ready for production work when circuit breaker measures are lifted. 

Find out more here. 

Community resources

I Lost My Gig (SG)

I Lost My Gig (SG) crowd-sources its responses and tallies them up to derive a rough gauge of the impact of COVID-19 on the creative industry, and also offers resources from gigs to support groups available for creatives. 

Find out more here. 

SAMPP COVID-19 RELIEF FUND

All current active SAMPP members who registered before 1 April 2020 will receive a one time cash grant equivalent of their last paid membership amount. ($100 for Ordinary Member, $85 for Associate Member, $30 for Student Member). Payment will be made via Paynow.

Find out more here. 

Singapore Unbound Relief Fund

Creative writers, whether they are Singapore citizens living anywhere in the world or Permanent Residents of Singapore, may apply for a SGD280 grant from SURF with no strings attached. This fund is specifically intended to help those in dire need of immediate help.

Find out more here. 

Pasar Glamour Art Aid

Pasar Glamour started an emergency relief fund to provide urgent financial assistance (one-off $500 grants) to Singaporean and PR freelancers working in the performing arts industry, who have been adversely affected by the closure of theatres and performing venues due to Covid-19. 

Deadline for application is this Friday (24/04). 

Find out more here. 

ASEAN Gig Fund

ASEAN Youth Organization is setting up an ASEAN Gig Fund to support our youth freelancers across Southeast Asia. The funds received will be used to match the earnings made be the Freelancers. ASEAN Gig Fund provides up to USD $100 per freelancer by matching $1 to every $1 earned by the freelancer (via gig work) for up to USD $100.

Find out more here. 

MADEinSG x National Youth Council 5-day Creative Challenge: #StayHomeforSG

This challenge aims to encourage members of the MADEinSG (Media, Arts, Design & Entertainment) community to make the best out of the circuit breaker period by creating positive and useful COVID-19 messages for youths aged between 15-35 years old.The winners will take home a $600 cash prize each, while the remaining finalists in each category will also be awarded $200 each.

Deadline for entries is 10PM, 25 April 2020. 

Find out more here. 

SG COVID-19 Creative/Cultural Professionals & Freelancers Support Group

 This is a support group for the creative industry to discuss and find ways to help each other as well as to connect and engage the relevant government bodies as a group.

Check it out here. 

Drop us a note at editorial@bandwagon.sg if there are additional helpful resources that haven't been included in the list.