Major contribution provides emergency aid via the Help Musicians Coronavirus Financial Hardship Fund

Friday March 27 – The Royal Society of Musicians (RSM), Britain’s oldest music charity, has today announced a £500,000 contribution to musicians suffering financial hardship, to be distributed through the Help Musicians Coronavirus Financial Hardship Fund, the vital emergency relief fund from UK charity Help Musicians.

Recognising the strength in collaboration and the unprecedented immediate need in the music community, RSM has taken this proactive step to mobilise funds in order to support even more musicians facing immediate financial crisis in the current climate.

The £5m Help Musicians Coronavirus Financial Hardship Fund was launched on Wednesday March 25 as a direct response to the challenging and uncertain landscape for musicians. The Fund offers a one-off payment of £500 per applicant and is to be used to alleviate some of the immediate pressure on musicians to meet their household expenses.

As a direct result of RSM’s action, an additional 1,000 will receive financial hardship support.

The Fund is available to UK professional working musicians and is applied for via an online form. Read the full eligibility criteria and application process on the Help Musicians website here.

Charlotte Penton-Smith, Chief Executive, The Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain, commented: “We are delighted to be working with Help Musicians to support those whose lives have been affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. Being Britain’s oldest music charity it is of utmost importance that we do all we can to help the profession at what is, such a challenging and uncertain time.”
 
James Ainscough, Help Musicians CEO, said: “It is only through collaboration that we can begin to make progress in meeting the needs of our music community right now. We are incredibly grateful to our longstanding friends at The Royal Society of Musicians for recognising the value of the Help Musicians Coronavirus Financial Hardship Fund and further bolstering its ability to reach more musicians. The impact of Coronavirus on musicians lives and careers is unprecedented, and now more than ever we need as much support as possible to provide meaningful help for those in need.”

About the Help Musicians Coronavirus Financial Hardship Fund:

Applications for this fund are submitted through an online form and offers a one-off payment of £500 per applicant. We regret that, because of the demand we anticipate, we cannot at this stage commit to making more than one payment to any individual from this temporary financial hardship fund as a result of the coronavirus. We encourage musicians only to apply if they are indeed suffering significant financial hardship to enable us to provide help quickly to those who need it the most. As the Help Musicians team continue to deal with an increased number of enquiries for support and advice please can we ask you not to ring the team in relation to your application to this fund.

Further help and advice is from across the profession is available at: http://www.coronamusicians.info/