COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on livelihoods across, including that of creative professionals. 2020 has certainly been a tough year for our artists. In testing times like these, it is upon us all as a community to be there for each other. One such initiative is the StayIN aLIVE Artist Fund started by a collective of labels and management agencies.
To partly alleviate the impact of the corona crisis, a few like minded arts organisations initiated the stayIN aLIVE campaign as a platform to educate, inspire and support artists in these times. The StayIN aLIVE Artist Fund was created in June to award micro-grants to artists deeply affected by the COVID-19 crisis. The emergency grant aims to address specific financial challenges as a stop-gap measure, and supports financial needs ranging from small cash disbursements, reimbursements for certain types of urgent expenses (such as rent, medical bills, etc.) to utility payments to third parties.
StayIN aLIVE
To date, the organisation has supported 9 grantees across various performing arts in the last two cycles of the Fund and disbursed over INR 1.65 lakh. StayIN aLIVE has completed three rounds and is open for applications for Cycle 4. If you are an artist or know someone who belongs to the Performance Arts industry and would like to apply for this assistance, please share this information within your networks or apply directly. The grant application form is available in Hindi – and English -. The deadline for this cycle is August 19 so be sure to make use of this opportunity!
The stayIN aLIVE foundation is a collective between Kommune, Big Bang Music, Tabhrasa, Priyanka Khimani, KWAN, OML, The ArtX Company, Alok Parande, Paytm Insider, Shark & Ink, Tape A Tale, Artist Aadmi, Unmute, Women of India, Gully Gang and Tarsame Mittal Talent Management. Desi Hip Hop is proud to be a part of this association and we aim to do our part in reviving the independent music industry of South Asia.
Furthermore, we will be joined by some of the founding members of StayIN aLIVE this month. In our weekly panel discussions with DJ Raf. To know more about StayIN aLIVE tune into our “Unfltrd” video podcast session. Going down on August 26th only on Desi Hip Hop’s YT and Facebook handles. Pandemic or not, hip hop don’t stop!