COVID-19 Resources (Archive)
Online communities, relief efforts, and more
COMMUNITY
The NoPro Slack — our Slack community is the “inner hub” where our editors connect with each other and creators and fans from around the world. It’s also the doorway to the HERE Discord server, which was established this month for AMAs, Salons, and has a voice chat line (the “Peanut Gallery”) which is always open for all.
VR Chat: Stuck Inside? A Quick Guide for using VRChat to Stay Connected — VRChat is a free 3D social app with chat rooms and avatars. Most of the content is made by our amazing global community, who have created over 50,000 worlds and 4 million avatars.
RELIEF EFFORTS
GoFundMe/Indie Campaigns
COVID-19 Aid for LA Immersive/Interactive Artists
In an effort to help address the impacts of lost revenue due to the closure of immersive/interactive experiences as a preventive measure to control the spread of COVID-19, LEIA (League of Experiential and Immersive Artists) has decided to provide a centralized location where artists may apply for modest grants.
While we hope to provide a model for other organizations providing direct relief to affected artists, at this time the founding chapter of LEIA will be focusing its efforts on the greater LA area.
BERLIN LOW-INCOME ARTIST+FREELANCER RELIEF FUND
Hi. We’re a group of low-income/precariously employed artists+freelancers from the Berlin arts scene raising money to support other artists and freelancers like us who are taking financial hits as a result of closures and lost income from Covid-19. Our intention is to collectively raise funds to provide emergency and preventative resources to those at financial risk as the government is doing little to protect our well-being.
Denver Metro Area Artist COVID-19 Relief Fund
Artists are one of the largest segments of the Denver metro area population that make up our “gig economy.” They are the ones who will not be getting back pay or paid time off because of the COVID-19 pandemic that has and will continue to transform our economy negatively. Artists and performers do not get paid without doing the work or performing. If an event is canceled or postponed, they do not have an income. With the widespread cancellation of major events here in the Denver metro area these vulnerable folx are already suffering. Please consider donating to this fund.
Seattle Artist Relief Fund Amid COVID-19
Seattle has so far been the city hardest hit by the COVID-19 coronavirus. This scary and tragic time has a lot of people staying close to home in order to try to help prevent the spread of this virus that can be devastating to our elderly, disabled, and medically compromised friends and neighbors.
NYC Low-Income Artist/Freelancer Relief Fund
We seek to provide support for low-income, BIPOC, trans/GNC/NB/Queer artists and freelancers whose livelihoods are being effected by this pandemic in NYC. Whether it’s from cancelled gigs, lost jobs, or a lack of business due to coronavirus scares, we hope to orchestrate an egalitarian approach to crowdsourcing.
The widespread cancellation of group events has had a disproportionate impact on the Colorado arts community — especially those who rely on gigs to pay their bills. With all of the event cancellations, there is a lot of uncertainty around how some artists will be able to purchase food or pay rent.
There is no employee in the fine and performing arts fields who has not suffered some significant loss of income from the current global situation. April expenses will be due soon, and subsidization is needed. These immediate artist grants will carry no stipulations of use and will be available to artists around the world.
The current global health crisis has already had a severe impact on arts and culture. Concerts and productions are being canceled, causing many artists to lose economic and social stability. We believe that the arts help make life worth living, and help us lead more thoughtful, compassionate, enjoyable lives. We also believe that NOW is the time to support artists and the arts… the world is going to really need us in the coming months…
The Indie Theater Fund Rapid Relief Emergency Fund
The Indie Theater Fund is launching this fundraising campaign to provide direct support and emergency relief to independent theaters and artists in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Non-Profit Fundraisers
An Urgent Call to Save Gray Area’s Cultural Community From Closing
A week ago, Gray Area took proactive steps to prioritize the health of our community by suspending all public events programming through the end of April. Now, the CDC has recommended postponing events of over fifty people for eight weeks. This lapse in programming makes the future uncertain for Gray Area, our artist community, and the cultural organizations sharing our space. Given the trajectory of this public health crisis, fully restoring our revenue could take until the Fall.
Mutual Aid
COVID-19 UK Mutual Aid groups: a list
As the global COVID-19 pandemic is upon us, a number of mutual aid groups have started forming across the country. The groups aim at providing community support to those who are more at risk from the virus: be it help with running errands or cooking.
¡PA’LANTE! NYC Mutual Aid Network
This is a community response to the needs of Black and POC New Yorkers in the wake of COVID-19. As we prepare for the next few weeks, we are glaringly aware of the lack of resources and access in many of our communities and want to get a headstart on making sure folks have what they need before a potential quarantine.
PLEASE be hyper-specific with your asks, and hyper-specific about what you can provide.
WILLING TO HELP IMMUNE COMPROMISED PPL IN NEED (Google Doc)
This document is divided up into 3 categories — Can Ship Supplies, Local Help / Deliveries, and General & Other. Within these categories, entries are organized alphabetically by state and country. If you are adding an entry, please put it under the applicable group/s and location! Try to include as much contact information as possible — venmo, paypal, email address, Instagram, etc
CREATOR RESOURCES
COVID-19 & Freelance Artists
An “aggregated list of FREE resources, opportunities, and financial relief options available to artists of all disciplines.” The “list is specifically designed to serve freelance artists, and those interested in supporting the independent artist community.”
Running List of Conferences Going Virtual Due to Coronavirus Health Concerns — 2020
From AR/VR Journey
CLASSES
Imagineering in a Box — Khan Academy/WDI
Platform: Video
Price: Free
Khan Academy’s Imagineering in a Box is designed to pull back the curtain to show you how artists, designers and engineers work together to create theme parks. Go behind the scenes with Disney Imagineers and complete project-based exercises to design a theme park of your very own. Aimed at youth, this one is good for the whole family.
GIGS
Adventure Lab Remote VR Performances
Our mission at Adventure Lab (www.adventurelab.fun) is to create new ways to play together when it’s hard to be together. Now more than ever, we want to help people connect using VR. We’re making VR escape room adventures that are a mix of immersive theater, cooperative puzzle-solving, and social gaming all from the comfort of your home.We’re still in the early days and we’re looking for those who would be interested in being virtual hosts. We’re looking for people with experience in improv acting, immersive theater, escape room clue mastering, and D&D game mastering.If this sounds intriguing, we’d love to know more about you: survey.adventurelab.io
It would be remote gig based work for folks in the US.
You’d be paid per showtime (showtimes are 40 minutes)
NoPro is a labor of love made possible by our generous Patreon backers. Join them today!
In addition to the No Proscenium web site, our podcast, and our newsletters, you can find NoPro on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, in the Facebook community Everything Immersive, and on our Slack forum.
Office facilities provided by Thymele Arts, in Los Angeles, CA.