CERF+ COVID-19 Relief Grant

COVID-19 Relief Grant

CERF+ is launching the COVID-19 Relief Grant program to provide financial assistance to professional artists working in craft disciplines who are facing dire circumstances from the COVID-19 crisis.

As part of CERF+’s broader COVID-19 crisis response strategies, this special program will provide one-time $1,000 grants to meet urgent food, housing and/or health insecurities. The grants will be awarded in two cycles: the application opens July 8th and the deadline for the first round will be July 29th, the second will be September 9th. Priority will be given to eligible artists facing the most severe financial pressures, and CERF+ will ensure that funds are dispersed throughout the country.

To be eligible for a “CERF+ Covid-19 Relief Grants”, applicants must:

Work in a Craft Discipline
CERF+ broadly defines eligible artists to include those who create work using historically recognized craft materials such as clay, glass, textiles, wood, metal; as well as those whose work expands on these historical definitions through the incorporation of non-traditional materials, new technologies and experimental approaches.

CERF+ is equally committed to the preservation of folk and traditional arts, as rooted in, and reflective of, the cultural life of a community. We recognize and support the ways that information is often passed on from one generation to the next and celebrate practices rooted within a common ethnic heritage, geographic region, religious affiliation or occupation.

CERF+ serves artists at all stages of their careers and seeks to support people from diverse educational and cultural backgrounds. Eligibility is not determined solely by the amount of money an artist generates from their work and we recognize that many individuals have careers that rely on multiple streams of income and financial support.

Craft objects may be functional or nonfunctional, but both types derive part of their meaning from their association with traditional functional forms such as chairs, vessels, garments or implements, and/or their association with cultural tradition. Qualities that contribute to the success of a craft object include the skill of the maker, the use of the material, the refinement of the design, the originality of expression, its cultural significance – or all of these.

Reside and work in the U.S. for the last two years

Dire Financial Emergency
Experience a dire financial emergency as a result of Covid-19 including food, housing, or health insecurities.

Conflict of Interest
Current full-time employees, board members, consultants, immediate family members of any of these groups at CERF+ are not eligible.

Key Dates