‘Safety net’ for Memphis artists now available

STEVIE PAIGE | DAILY MEMPHIAN

A new fund aims to help area artists through “catastrophic” emergencies that hinder their ability to perform and/or earn income. 

Those catastrophes include fires, natural disasters, medical emergencies, catastrophic property damage or theft of gear or equipment required to perform or create art. The Artist Emergency Fund will provide unrestricted cash grants to recipients. 

ARTSmemphis launched the fund on Monday, Sept. 30, in partnership with Music Export Memphis. 

“As an artist, you never know when a challenge is going to come up,” said Elizabeth Rouse, CEO of ARTSmemphis. “For individuals who make a living from their work, a flood in their studio that causes tons of damage could be career changing.”

Recipients must be 21 years old or older; a resident and working artist of Shelby County for at least 12 months in the field of music, visual art, dance, theater/performing arts, literary arts or film; and have experienced a recent unforeseen, career-threatening emergency that occurred within the past six months while in Shelby County.

Artists are limited to one emergency-relief grant per calendar year, and are eligible to receive a maximum number of two emergency relief grants over the course of their lifetime.

Musicians can apply for funding via Music Export Memphis. Non-musicians can apply for funding through ARTSmemphis.

“I hope that artists can feel a tiny grain of calm in a moment of emergency, knowing that there is a resource in our community that can help,” said Elizabeth Cawein, Music Export Memphis executive director.

The Artist Emergency Funding grant is modeled on the 2020 Artist Emergency Fund, which provided $900,000 in COVID-19 relief funds to 800 artists. It was also an ARTSmemphis and Music Export Memphis partnership.

The partnership emerged at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic after the organizations received reports of lost income from local musicians.

With contributions from the Hyde Family Foundation and dozens of other community contributors, more than $400,000 in grants were given to individual musicians and music-industry professionals. 

“Our artists are inherently more vulnerable because they are less likely to have savings and insurance,” said Cawein. 

A 2013 survey by the Future of Music Coalition found that 43% of creative artists and 53% of musicians lack health insurance.

Cawein said that, in the past, Music Export Memphis has gotten requests for a grant opportunity like the current AEF but was unable to fulfill them due to a lack of direct funding. However, over several years, both organizations have put aside money from fundraising efforts to finance this new grant. 

“There needed to be this safety net that would exist beyond the pandemic,” Cawein said.

In 2024, ARTSmemphis reports having provided $3 million to 80 organizations and artists through various grant programs, and Rouse said she hopes the AEF grant opportunity is another “example of how Memphis is a city that values our artists and has resources for them.”

“We hope that everything that we do can be a reason that a musician chooses to stay in Memphis,” Cawein said. “Knowing that they can get a grant for a tour or for merch during the good times, and then also knowing that if something happens, they would be taken care of during hard times,”