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Covid-19 Fundraisers


Culture Wire Team

Fundraisers for the community STAYIN aLIVE Artist Emergency Fund The Covid-19 crisis has hit the performance arts industry hard — many artists, who survive from show to show, have lost out on confirmed projects and their entire revenue streams with zero income coming in. Stayin Alive is joining hands with GiveIndia to support performing artists and other members of the live entertainment industry who have lost all sources of income in this lockdown. The funds collected will go to only those artists who are most in need of it, after a transparent verification process. Donate here: https://stayinalive.giveindia.org/


Artists in Crisis in India — Covid-19 relief

Sangam Festival is raising money for artists of different caste, class, and/or gender backgrounds living in precarious conditions. They cover urban and rural south India, including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka. The initiative is supported by MAV (Multicultural Arts Victoria) and SNS Arts Development Consultancy


Fund for Supporting Art & Culture during Covid-19 (FSAC)

India Foundation for the Arts from Bengaluru has initiated a fundraiser to expand and continue grantmaking, ensuring that funds are made available to many more artists across their programmes.


#ArtMatters is an initiative by Teamwork Arts to help create awareness about the new reality of various arts communities across India, and to put change into action and develop support channels for them.


Artisans Support Fund

Dastkar has reopened their Artisans Support Fund in the light of the second wave of Covid-19 in India.


Anahad Artist Relief Fund

Initiated by Anahad Foundation, the fund is a research-based programme that focuses on the preservation and propagation of art forms that fulfil the needs of communities. The objective is to incubate the initial week of the survival process of the struggling artists and performance industry workers while they face such unfavourable circumstances.


CCI Artisan Relief Fund

The CCI Artisan Relief Fund by the Crafts Council of India will provide artisans and weavers immediate financial assistance for basic necessities and later provide them with much-needed cash to start production post Covid-19.

Fundraisers by the community

Artists for India

A group of artists are offering author-signed books in exchange for donations to Mission Oxygen. Participating writers, as of this time, include Salman Rushdie, Fatima Bhutto, Curtis Sittenfeld, Nikita Lalwani, Nikesh Shukla, Alice Albinia, Max Porter, Alpa Shah, McKenzie Funk, Gayle Forman, Deepa Anappara, Shrabani Basu, Sanam Maher, Diksha Basu, Tania James, Carolyn Mackler, Sonia Faleiro, William Dalrymple, Eimear McBride, Kiran Desai, Saba Imtiaz, Liza Mundy, VV Ganeshananthan, Megha Majumdar, Aruni Kashyap, Susan Abulhawa, Avni Doshi, Mira Kamdar, Tahmima Anam, Prayaag Akbar, Alison Dunlop, Ravi Agrawal, Madhuri Vijay, Alexander Maksik, Molly Crabapple, Pragya Agarwal, Angela Saini, Clover Stroud, Jessica Jarlvi.


Art Rises for India

On 20 May 2021, the Indian art community will unite to give back to our country and its people through a 24-hour online fundraiser auction of over a hundred works that will raise funds to directly assist ongoing Covid-19 relief efforts. 100% of the proceeds from this sale, including the reduced Buyer’s Premium, will be donated to key grassroots non-profit organisations, who are working on the ground to provide medical support as well as daily subsistence to those in need.


Prints for Hope 8:30, a collective of nine women photographers across India, have launched a sale, Prints for Hope, to provide much-needed funds to organisations working on the ground in some of the most difficult circumstances caused by this pandemic. The sale is on until 17 May More information: https://www.instagram.com/p/COaYBCKpBqA/

DAG: Hope for Humanity Opened on 8 May, DAG has organised a fundraiser sale valued at ₹ 1 crore, with 100% of the proceeds going to Sood Charity Foundation, Khalsa Aid India, and Hemkunt Foundation. Date: Till 16 May 2021 More information: https://www.instagram.com/p/COdIv75Dj23/

Art For Cause

artwithintent is offering artworks for sale, with proceeds going to Goonj’s Rahat initiative. Rahat aims to provide essentials like groceries, hygiene items, and medical items to communities in need across India, with a focus on daily wage workers who are especially vulnerable to the disruptions caused by the pandemic. More information: https://www.instagram.com/p/COfooiIpHWE/ See the art: https://www.instagram.com/artwithintent/ Art therapy for donations

Found Space Collective, a group of artists, art therapists, and mental health professionals, has designed a support circle where you will be guided to express your anxious thoughts, feelings, and needs visually and creatively. The sessions will be led by Shulian, an art therapist based in Singapore with over 5 years of counselling experience. Entry to the session is free for those who donate to any of the fundraisers listed on @mutualaidindia. The sessions will be on 21 and 28 May 2021. More information: https://www.instagram.com/p/COppZ6-jcOV/ Benefit sale of totes

From 6 May to 16 May, all proceeds from the sale of tote bags from the Floating Canvas Company for the next ten days will be donated to Uday Foundation for providing wellness kits and dry ration to the homeless. More information: https://www.instagram.com/p/COhT9IZJyYW/

AIRCollective AIRCollective is sharing a great collection of films by Indian makers. Donate as little as $10 or ₹500 to get a week’s access to 10 wonderful films. All proceeds from this collection will go to the Migrant Workers Solidarity Network. More information: https://www.instagram.com/p/COYaGr5hhai/

PhotoSolidarity: Chennai Photo Biennale The CPB Foundation is organising a print sale. Profits will be donated to Khalsa Aid India and Protsahan India Foundation. The sale will be live on shop.chennaiphotobiennale.com from 15 May 2021. More information: https://www.instagram.com/p/COpL1MyDB80/ Roohi for India

A joint fundraiser by the Indian-American Association of Western Washington, Tasveer, WAPI and API Chaya to raise funds for emergency medical supplies to be sent to Oxfam India, AID-India and other vetted NGOs in India who work with the marginalised and rural communities. The event, featuring poetry and spoken word, is on Zoom, on 16 May from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. IST.

Alternative Media Centre and Revamp by Aaaval are running fundraisers to support folk artists in Tamil Nadu.

More information: https://www.instagram.com/alternative_media_centre/ and https://www.instagram.com/revamp_by_aaval/ JNAF Fundraiser The Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation, Mumbai, has released four special edition prints from their collection to raise urgent funds for Covid-19 relief organisations. 100% of the proceeds from the sales will go to Hemkunt Foundation, Dastakar, Give India, and Roti Bank Foundation. Available until Sunday, 16 May 2021. More information: https://www.instagram.com/p/COxoF_PjoSd/

ReReeti Visits ReReeti Foundation is offering virtual field trips to companies across India to raise funds for frontline workers battling the second wave of the pandemic. Companies which donate ₹25,000 to one of three Covid-19 relief campaigns (Hemkunt Foundation, Doctors For You, and Jhatkaa.org) can avail one of these trips for up to 50 employees as an HR exercise and social hour for their employees. More information: https://www.instagram.com/p/COz6ctyprB2/ India Covid-19 Relief 72-Hour Radio Fundraiser by Boxout FM On 15 and 16 May, Boxout FM is broadcasting a weekend-long (now extended to 72 hours) radio stream featuring a line-up of artists and DJs from over 20 countries, each with exclusive sets and performances to help raise funds for the current Covid-19 crisis in India. All proceeds will be donated to Give India. More information: https://www.instagram.com/p/COwmwM2JISS/

Rohan Chakravarty, cartoonist and illustrator, and creator of Green Humour, is donating proceeds from the sale of his illustrations to Maee, an education initiative for the Van Gujjar community in Uttarakhand, and Last Wilderness Foundation, which is working to arrange Covid-19 related essentials for tribal communities around Panna Tiger Reserve.


Rohini Kejriwal, curator of The Alipore Post, is selling her 2021 calendars in exchange for donations to Covid-19 relief charities working in India.

Harshita Borah and Meera Ganapathi have put together a zine, a compilation of poetry, prose and illustrations, 16 works along with three new poems. Proceeds from the sale of this zine will support the Tycia Foundation, which is turning auto rickshaws into free ambulances in Delhi for critically ill patients who do not have access to any other transportation. More information: https://www.instagram.com/p/COh_HxFhAW0/

Artist Shailee Mehta is giving away artworks in exchange for donations to Hemkunt Foundation in support of their Covid-19 relief work. More information: https://www.instagram.com/p/COSmAxkl0TC/ Sahej Marwah is donating 100% of the royalties from the sale of her book, Amidships, to Khaana Chahiye.

More information: https://twitter.com/sahejjm/status/1385956795848429570 The illustrator who goes by @shirtshanks on Twitter, for every donation of ₹500 and above to any grassroots efforts to fight Covid-19 in India, will make a small illustration.

Garv Malik, stand-up comic, will do a show for anyone who donates ₹20,000 or more to a non-political Covid-19 cause.

@iRatzzz will do a one-hour storytelling session for you and your kids if you donate ₹1000 or more to https://donate.indiacovidresources.in.


Hula hoop performer and instructor Eshna Kutty is offering a beginner's hoop workshop online, all proceeds from which will go to U&I Trust's Covid-19 relief work.

Several organisations started initiatives that wound up before publishing this issue of Culture Wire. We list them here with the hope that they might inspire others. Art for India

Renowned artists from India and the diaspora sold prints of some of their most loved and striking imagery to support Mission Oxygen. Participating artists, including Bharat Sikka, Prarthna Singh, Kalpesh Lathigra, Ashish Shah and Avani Rai, donated photographs for the sale. This initiative was open until 9 May 2021.

More information: https://artforindia.org/ Art Fights Covid

Kulture Shop, an arts collective, invited donations of ₹5000+ to GiveIndia’s campaign for oxygen supply in return for an artwork of the donor’s choice from a special collection. This offer was open until 10 May 2021. More information: https://www.kultureshop.in/pages/art-fights-covid


Film Companion: Mission Oxygen

On 11 May, Film Companion ran sessions with noted actors, filmmakers, technicians from the field of cinema to raise funds for Mission Oxygen.


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