Freelance Audio Fund (2020)

Update: The Freelance Audio Fund is no longer accepting applications. We have received more applications than we are able to fund and will be responding to them in the order received. We apologize for the delay on our end. We are committed to helping deliver opportunities for work to the freelance community and hope to share more on this soon. -- May 27, 2020

Dear AIR Members, 

We are in the midst of a truly extraordinary and overwhelming moment. The stress of uncertainty and lost work have impacted every one of us. 

We know that while this moment is stressful for everyone, some of our members have seen the whole of their work dry up completely, and with no new gigs in site their financial needs are becoming urgent. We know just how many projects have been postponed as newsrooms pivot to covering the pandemic and everyone adapts to the demands of social distancing. In many cases, the safety nets that freelance producers turn to when times are tough have also dried up. 

AIR is launching the Freelance Audio Fund to provide emergency relief to the professional audio community that have been impacted by COVID-19. We have $50,000 for the urgent financial needs of our members. In our first round of funding we aim to make unrestricted cash awards of not more than $600 to AIR members who unexpectedly find themselves in dire financial straits. We expect to open a second round of applications to radio and audio producers regardless of membership status. 

The reporters, producers, engineers and sound designers at AIR  are the beating heart of storytelling and journalism. For institutions operating at capacity, you deliver new and creative capacity to pilot efforts to grow audience and membership, revenue and relevance. You are the agents of change, moving fluidly between studios, commercial, print, video and public media gigs in pursuit of stories that matter. With each stop, you introduce new practices, workflows and talent that benefits the industry overall. You are in every community and able to provide the hyper local and diverse perspectives that national news feeds depend on. We cannot stress our admiration for you and how important you are. 

Visit {URL REMOVED} to learn more, support the fund or apply for assistance.

We are here to do everything we can to support each other. If there are other ways that AIR can support you, we want to hear from you. 

Sincerely, 

Ken Ikeda
AIR CEO