![]() When we started our Artist Relief Fund, we expected contributions from individual donations, corporations, and local businesses. What we didn't anticipate were artists coming forward to help the cause by using their talents to support fellow artists. Artist Nicole Holderbaum (Nico), has once again stepped up, offering to raffle an original painting that she is creating specifically for the fund. Nicole is well-known for spearheading such community impact projects as the Kid’s Mural Project and most recently the mural at the entrance of the Arlington area, now known as The Wall at College Park. Raffle tickets can be purchased through: Venmo: @nicosuavalicious Cashapp: $nicoart PayPal: nicosuaveart@gmail.com 1 for $5 and 5 for $20 Another artist, Jeremy Convery, of Jacksonville Beach, has personally felt the impact of the virus and wanted to do something to help the arts community. In his unique pointillism style, made up of millions of tiny dots, he has created beach scenes that he's made into fun stickers. He is generously donating all proceeds from the stickers to the The Cultural Council of Jacksonville to be donated to local artists that have been impacted by the COVID-19 situation. You can purchase stickers directly through the artist's venmo account:
Shark - Large $7 Shark Tooth - Large $7 Fin Design - Small $4 Beach Buggy- Small $4
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The economic impact of the coronavirus shut down has been devastating for many industries. We are encouraged to order take-out and give extra tips to the staff of restaurants, in order to help compensate for the lack of business, but seldom is there much talk about artists, whose income has also come to a screeching halt.
In a recent article in the Jacksonville Business Journal, our executive director, Joy Young, shared that there is already a collective loss of over $1 million in revenue in the arts and culture sector on the First Coast. In an effort to assist individual artists (including performers, writers, fine art, etc)we have started the The Artist Relief Fund. The intent is to raise support through individual donations and in partnership with social entrepreneurs, corporations, and local businesses. Void Magazine and Strata Mfg. have been huge supporters, starting us off with the proceeds from the Void this Virus t-shirt sales that raised over $1200. Void is continuing their incredible support by starting a special online sale that will donate $5 for every sale. The small grants of $250 certainly won't make up for all the losses felt, but with your help, we can alleviate a bit of stress and help cover some bills. Putting money into art and culture organizations, in the face of this global pandemic may seem completely irrational. In fact, we have received some negative comments regarding the small percentage of government funding that is part of the CARES act- the government emergency funding package.
At first glance, of course. How could anyone disagree with putting all our financial resources towards saving lives? In the face of life or death to hundreds of thousands of Americans, and the very fabric of our society, why would we worry about funding for the NEA, Smithsonian Institute or other arts and culture institutions? The greatest answer isn't the fact that the arts contribute over $700 billion to the U.S. economy. Or, that it employs 4.9 million workers across the country. According to The Art Newspaper(2020), The most valuable reason to protect the arts and culture industry, in this time, is their role as "chroniclers of our capacity to overcome...To lose them, at a moment when so much is on the line, is a uniquely terrible thing." Click here to read more. |