Charities
Freelancers Make Theatre Work cannot guarantee that applications for support from any of the organisations listed here will be successful. Each organisation will check that you meet their eligibility criteria, which may include asking you for information about your professional and financial situation, including savings and property.
ACTING FOR OTHERS
Who: All theatre workers
What: Acting for Others provides financial and emotional support to all theatre workers in times of need through the 14 member charities.
Criteria: Varies amongst the variety of their 14 member charitites.
ACTORS BENEVOLENT FUND
THE ACTORS’ CHILDREN’S TRUST
Who: Actors who are parents
What: Money and advice to actor-parents and their children
Criteria: Must have had paid, professional acting work for more than half of their working life
BACKUP
Who: Technical professionals working in live events, theatre, film and TV industries
What: Provides funds for people who are seriously ill or suffering from an accident and therefore unable to earn.
Separate hardship fund also available for those affected by Covid. https://www.backuptech.uk/apply/hardship-form
Criteria: UK resident – must have worked in the industry for 5 years or be a direct dependent of someone that has – don’t have to be currently active in the industry so long as you haven’t been out of the industry for longer than you worked in it.
BRADFORD PRODUCING HUB
Who: Bradford based arts and creative professionals.
What: A micro grant of £500
Criteria: Anyone involved in making live arts, living or working in Bradford District People at any stage of their career. We will prioritise individuals and unfunded companies. Live arts include spoken word, dance, theatre, storytelling, music, movement and all the other art-forms that have an element of live interactive-ness with audiences. When we say ‘artists’, we mean creative
people of all kinds: all of the roles required to make brilliant performance, on or off stage.
DANCE PROFESSIONALS FUND
Who: Professional dancers, Dance Teachers, Choreographers and Choreologists
What: Financial support in time of need.
Criteria: Must have 3 years of professional dance performance, teaching or choreography in the UK – be a practising, former or retired dance professional; or in certain circumstances, be a dependent of a dance professional – be in receipt of all the state benefits you are entitled to at the time of applying – have individual savings of less than £6,000 if of working age, or £16,000 if retired – have no other significant means of support e.g. from a partner or from capital assets.
DANCERS' CAREER DEVELOPMENT
Who: Dancers, Dance Teachers, Choreographers.
What: Dancers are able to access a range of financial grants, through dcd as well as through our partners in the uk and abroad, to help support dancers with everything from the practical costs of transitioning into a new career to professional skills development.
CULTURAL HARDSHIP FUND - MANCHESTER
The fund is designed to assist those whose freelance work has been lost or disrupted because of COVID-19 and who are experiencing hardship because of:
- reduced demand for, or capacity to deliver, their services
- the part of the sector they work in is temporarily unable to trade (due to local/national lockdown measures, social distancing requirements or loss of trade)
Eligibility
The fund is available to freelancers within the arts, cultural and creative industries in Manchester (including: music, theatre, dance, combined arts, visual arts, museums, literature, creative industries, heritage culture and heritage, and whose work has direct creative/cultural outcomes) who are able to demonstrate the following:
- Freelance work has been lost or disrupted because of COVID-19
- Current monthly income (before tax) of less than £1,400, or £1,900 for those with dependants
- At least 50% working time was spent, or 50% income was derived, from freelance employment in the arts, cultural and creative industries sector in the period April 2019 to March 2020
- Resident of, or business based in, Manchester
THE DIRECTORS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION
Who: Theatrical and Screen directors
What: Relief of poverty and other acute needs among current and former directors
Criteria: All UK-based theatrical and screen directors with an urgent need, whether or not it is coronavirus-related
DRURY LANE FUND – DISCRETIONARY GRANT
Who: Actors, Singers, Dancers and Stage Managers
What: Small discretionary grants to non-members in need
Criteria: Must have worked at Theatre Royal Drury Lane or have a link to the theatre.
ENO BENEVOLENT FUND
www.eno.org/about/eno-benevolent-fund/
Who: Performers and those behind the scenes
What: Financial assistance when things go wrong through illness, accident or some other hardship.This may involve tiding a person (and sometimes their dependants) over a difficult time, or providing longer-term support.
Criteria: Must have worked at English National Opera
EQUITY BENEVOLENT FUND
https://www.equity.org.uk/about/benevolent-fund/how-to-get-help/
Who: Any professional eligible to join Equity
What: Financial grants for urgent one-off expenses (typical claims range from £60 – £350)
Criteria: Must be a Full Equity Member (which includes graduates, long service, life and child members)
EQUITY CHARITABLE TRUST
www.equitycharitabletrust.org.uk
Who: All freelance professional performers and those who work in the theatre profession on a freelance basis
What: Financial assistance
Criteria: Emergency funds are available to all freelance professional performers and those who work in the theatre profession on a freelance basis. This includes: actors, choreographers, dancers, theatre directors, models, singers, stage management, stand ups, storytellers, stunt performers and co-ordinators, theatre designers, theatre fight directors, TV and radio presenters, variety, circus, cabaret and light entertainment artists, voice artists, walk-on and supporting artists. (excludes musicians, drama students or amateur performers)
FLEABAG SUPPORT FUND – via THE ROYAL THEATRICAL FUND
Who: Freelancers working in theatre, comedy and cabaret
What: Set up as financial Help for those unable to work as a direct result of the Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic.
Criteria: Opens for Submissions once a year via the Royal Theatrical Fund
FREELANDS FOUNDATION EMERGENCY FUND
www.freelandsfoundation.co.uk/
Who: Freelance creative practitioners
What: Grants of £1,500 – £2,500 from a £1.5m fund for the Covid-19 crisis
Criteria: Must be based in England and Northern Ireland, working in the visual arts and be experiencing severe financial hardship.
HELP MUSICIANS
Who: Self-Employed or Unemployed Professional Working Musicians (performers, composers/creators or directly involved in the production of music).
What: Provides financial support for musicians struggling on Universal Credit or on other support – from a £2.55 million charitable fund.
Criteria: UK Resident
MGC FUTURES - BURSARIES
www.mgcfutures.com/5th-anniversary-bursaries/
Who: UK based Theatre Freelancers and workers
What: You can apply for a bursary from £500 – £5,000.
Criteria: You must be a UK resident and bursaries cannot be used for education fees or for investment in productions
MUSICIANS UNION HARDSHIP FUND
https://www.musiciansunion.org.uk/
Who: Musicians Union Members
What: An Emergency Hardship Fund of £1m in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic
Criteria: Must be a UK resident – Must be currently paying the full MU membership subscription rate – suffering genuine hardship from loss of work due to the Coronavirus pandemic – must not have already successfully received a payment from the MU Coronavirus Hardship Fund
PAUL HAMLYN FOUNDATION - Ideas and Pioneers Fund
www.phf.org.uk/funds/ideaspioneers/
Who: All Theatre Freelancers and organisations
What: grants of up to £15,000 to support people with a vision of a better society to explore their ideas for change.
Criteria:
- If you’ve got an innovative idea or new approach.
Our focus is on supporting the earliest stages of idea development – even if your plan is risky or experimental. We’re looking for potential, not the finished product. - Whether you’re applying as an individual, charity, social enterprise or limited company.
We’re open to anyone – from individuals, groups of up to three people and organisations with up to five employees. - If you haven’t applied for funding before.
We want to be one of the first funders for new ideas and we particularly welcome first time applicants. - If you’re young.
We’d like most of the people we support to be between 18-30 years old. - Whatever your background .
We support everyone from activists to researchers, as long as you’re focused on exploring an idea for change
THE RALPH AND MERIEL RICHARDSON FOUNDATION
Who: Actors
What: The Foundation has made grants for wheelchairs, for hospital treatment, residential care, surgeons fees, medication and a variety of short term help to a large number of those seeking assistance
Criteria: Applicants must have been active in the profession for a minimum of 15 years, save in exceptional circumstances
ROYAL OPERA HOUSE BENEVOLENT FUND
www.roh.org.uk/about/benevolent-fund
Who: Dancers, Singers, Musicians, Technicians, Administrative, FOH, Stage Managers
What: Confidential advice, emotional support and financial assistance
Criteria: Past and present employees (and their dependants) of the Royal Opera House and Birmingham Royal Ballet.
THE ROYAL THEATRICAL FUND
Who: Any person in need who has professionally worked in the performing arts
What: Financial Help for those unable to work due to illness, injury or old age.
Criteria: Must have worked professionally in the entertainment industry, for seven years or more
THE ROYAL VARIETY CHARITY
http://www.royalvarietycharity.org
Who: All who have worked professionally in the entertainment industries. All those who’ve worked on the stage, or the wings, in front of a camera, or behind it, as well as all those who’ve spent their lives working in the numerous support industries dedicated to entertainment.
What: Financial support grant
Criteria: People experiencing financial hardship, or experiencing difficulties as a result of illness or accidents.
THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS’ EMERGENCY FUND
Who: Professional Authors, Scriptwriters & Playwrights
What: Grants are likely to be up to £2,000
Criteria: Must be UK Resident or British Subject – Author-related activities must make up a substantial amount of annual income.
Stagehand - The PSA Welfare and Benevolent Fund
www.psa.org.uk/pages/about-welfare-and-benevolent-fund
020 8675 2586
Help for Production Services Association (PSA) members who encounter an injury or illness that prevents them working or forces an unplanned change of career.
SWAP'ra EMERGENCY FUND
THE THEATRE COMMUNITY FUND
http://www.theatrecommunityfund.com/
Who: Theatre artists and professionals whose livlihoods and futures have been threatened in the wake of Covid-19
What: Grants up to £3,000
Criteria: None
Theatre Artists Fund
Who: Theatre professionals who are in need of urgent and critical financial support
What: One-off emergency grant of £1,000
Criteria: Must:
– Be a Resident of UK
– Be A theatre professional and have worked in one or many role/s (within the sector) totalling at least 8 weeks between January 1st 2019 and March 31st 2020
– Be in need of urgent financial assistance due to the Covid-19 pandemic
– Be Self-Employed or unemployed
– Not currently be furloughed or have received any support from SEISS
– Earn the majority of your income through professional theatre work in the UK
– Have less than £2,000 in savings (still apply if you currently have more than that, but only because of your tax bill savings – include this detail as a note in your application)
– Not currently be in full-time Further or Higher Education
– Not have received support in excess of £1,500 from any other industry coronavirus emergency (COVID-19) grant scheme
– Have sought to access any statutory support (government provided)
THE THEATRICAL GUILD
Who: Almost anyone Offstage, Backstage and Front of House
What: Long term & Short term Financial Support, Counselling, Welfare and Debt Advice,
Criteria: Anyone who has spent a significant proportion of their career to date training for and/or working in a relevant backstage or front of house position. That includes any kind of stage technician or engineer; stage managers, stagehands and flymen; anyone involved in costume, hair or makeup; designers and makers of sets, props or puppets; and ushers or box office staff, Plus Designers, Directors, Assistant Directors, Theatre Photographers.
TURN 2 US
Who: Anyone
What: Check benifit entitlement, search and apply for grants.
Criteria: Anyone