The QUEER|ART GIVING CIRCLE is an initiative to provide direct financial aid to Queer|Art artists who need help covering their basic needs.

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, Queer|Art launched the Queer|Art Giving Circle—an initiative to help us ensure no artist in our community goes without basic needs.

At the start of the (still ongoing) COVID-19 pandemic, Queer|Art created a COVID-19 Impact study, in order to hear directly from our Queer|Art community about how the pandemic was affecting their lives. What we learned was that dozens of our former or current QA artists were unsure of their ability to afford basic needs—food, medicine, or cleaning supplies—due to the crisis caused by coronavirus. We decided to make a strong commitment to ensuring no one in our community has to worry about such essentials during a global pandemic, and launched the Queer|Art Giving Circle, to provide direct financial aid in the form of biweekly disbursements of $200 to artists who need help covering their basic needs.

Since launching the Giving Circle Program in May of 2020, we have been able to distribute over $40,000 in direct disbursements to artists in our community. Given the ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the overlapping crises of white supremacy and anti-Blackness that many of our artists continue to navigate on a daily basis, and the looming threat of a climate catastrophe event upending our lives in an instant — we have decided to maintain the Queer|Art Giving Circle on an ongoing basis.

In order to continue to ensure that no one in our community of artists goes without their basic needs, we are calling on you to donate to help support the work of the Giving Circle.

A single donation of $200 can support…
$100 in groceries
$50 for medications
$25 for cleaning supplies
$25 for personal protective equipment

We strongly encourage to select to make a recurring donation if you are able, so that we can continue to support our community for as long as possible. We have committed to administering the QAM Giving Circle on an ongoing basis, as long as need persists within the community.

Applying for Aid

Are you a Queer|Art artist and curious to learn more about how to receive support from the QAM Giving Circle? Click below to apply for direct financial aid. Funds are distributed every two weeks on a first-come, first-serve basis. While the available funds are below $2,000, we limit disbursements to once a month in order to ensure that we can support the greatest number of artists. For more information about the structure of the program, be sure to read our Frequently Asked Questions page.

THANK YOU

to our Giving Circle Donors, who ensure that Queer|Art can continue to support our community of artists as they navigate moments of crisis.

The Queer|Art Giving Circle is made possible by Jim Hodges Studio Inc.,
with additional support from members of our Queer|Art community.