Calgary theatre creates $6,000 grant for artists who are disabled, deaf or mentally ill

Arts organizations have been hit hard during the pandemic, but one Calgary theatre company says it hascreated a grant to help artists during these unprecedentedtimes.

Inside Out Theatre, a not-for-profit, disability-ledtheatre company, is offering an "artistic basic income" grant to two Alberta-based artists identifying as disabled, deaf, hearing impaired or living with mental illness.

Col Cseke, artistic director of Inside Out Theatre, told the Calgary Eyeopener thatartists will be chosen at random and will receive $6,000 each.

"We have a really amazing staff at Inside Out, many of whom come from these communities and have these identities, and we had been talking for quite a while about the obligation that we have as an organization to our sector and to our artists in our communities," he said.

Cseke says that unlike many other arts organizations, Inside Out has been financially supportedduring the pandemic by different levels of government and foundations such as theUnited Way.

"At one point, we received some more financial support from the federal government that came through the Department of Heritage that we weren't expecting, and for the first time, totally unrestricted funds," he said.

"Essentially, we were allowed to do whatever we wanted to do with it and what we wanted to do was get it straight to artists."

Applications for the grant opened on Sept. 1. Cseke says they have over 50 applicants evenly spread across the province, which he expects will double by the closing date, Sept. 30.

As well, according to a release, the organization acknowledges thatBlack, Indigenous and artists of colour may face additional barriers and marginalization. Thus, it will guarantee that at least one of the artists chosen will comefrom one of these communities.

"The idea is it provides in some way a bit of a baseline to take care of some really basic needs that alleviates the pressure somewhat," said Cseke.

With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.