The AFC is pleased to announce the Reactivation Program – direct financial assistance for independent, self-employed, and gig workers in the live performance sector who are experiencing financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Reactivation Program serves theatre, comedy, and circus performers, as well as technicians, production, and other live performance professionals who need financial support to maintain or regain work in the sector.
Program details and the application portal are at ArtsReactivation.ca.
This program provides one-time assistance of up to $2,500 to help with things like:
- basic living expenses: rent/mortgage, utilities, food, medical needs, etc.;
- expenses that can help get back to work: equipment, transportation, certifications, etc.;
- costs incurred during the pandemic that may be causing financial instability: moving expenses, debt payments, outstanding dues, etc.
Through the Reactivation Program, The AFC will distribute up to $17 million in financial relief on an ongoing basis between July 2022 and March 2023, throughout Canada outside of the province of Quebec.
Here’s what the AFC’s Executive Director David Hope says about this new program: “The AFC has been providing emergency financial assistance to workers in the performing arts sector for more than 60 years. The recent pandemic has caused extreme hardship for so many professionals in the performing arts across Canada. Many are in financial distress and even starting to leave the sector. We have created the Reactivation Program to provide assistance quickly, accessibly, and compassionately to all performing arts professionals who qualify and are experiencing financial hardship. We are here and ready to help gig workers, self-employed, and independent workers – the most precarious of professionals in the sector – stabilize and reactivate their career in the performing arts.”
