Gimme Shelter Performers' Emergency Fund

While Oregon and the rest of the world are trying to navigate this unfolding and rapidly changing crisis, the  economic impact of Covid-19 has already taken its toll…and we’re only at the beginning.

Nobody seems to know how long we’ll all be hunkering down and avoiding one another. Nor can anyone say, definitively, what the ultimate financial impact will be. However, we are all in this together, regardless of lockdowns and quarantines. Thank God for art, music, comedy, films, dance; a lot of marvelous shows and concerts are now streaming so you can still feel sort of connected in this bizarre new normal.  So, yes,  thank heavens for those performances you can enjoy at home. How about thanking our artists by helping them keep their homes?

PERFORMING LIVE IS THEIR LIVING
We all miss going out, gathering in large groups, enjoying and celebrating each other. Sadly, however, all that live entertainment decorating our calendars and marquees are cancelled or postponed until who knows when. It stinks, but think how much it sucks for all the singers, actors, musicians, comics, dancers, strippers, performance artists, drag queens, storytellers and the like in Oregon alone, looking at that same blank calendar. Most performing artists are independent contractors in the gig economy. Many are already vulnerable, financially, and very few have insurance or much in the way of savings. That’s where we come in.

GIMME SHELTER PERFORMERS’ EMERGENCY FUND
We want to give our Oregon performance community a little help so they can keep a roof over their heads.  That's why we came together and created the Gimme Shelter Performers' Emergency Fund. So while you’re enjoying the fruits of the creative world in the comfort of your own home, please consider helping those in the creative world keep their homes.

PLEASE GIVE NOW
Once we have sufficient funds to do so, Gimme Shelter will immediately begin offering grants of up to $500 to assist with rent or mortgage relief to Oregon performing artists who need it.  Please give as much as you can now and we'll get the money out to those in need as fast as we can.

Thank you!

Gimme Shelter Performers’ Emergency Fund Founding Members:
Howie Bierbaum
Stephen Cassell
Courtenay Hameister
Storm Large
Thomas Lauderdale
Hunter Noack
Sofi Von Trapp


To learn more about the fund or to apply for a grant visit  https://www.gimmeshelterpdx.org/


The fine print: Gimme Shelter Performers Emergency Fund is an Oregon nonprofit corporation in the ‎process ‎of ‎applying for 501(c)(3) status with the Internal Revenue Service. If Gimme Shelter Performers Emergency Fund has donor contribution and contact information, we ‎will ‎promptly ‎notify donors upon receipt of the IRS determination letter regarding its ‎‎501(c)(3) tax status. If tax-exempt status is received, we expect that Gimme Shelter Performers Emergency Fund's tax-exempt ‎status will be ‎retroactive to ‎March 17, 2020.

Color photo courtesy of Portland Center Stage