Theatre Washington is committed to keeping the Taking Care Fund open. Grants of direct support are made to theatre-makers on a monthly cycle, ensuring that they receive funding swiftly when they need it most. Donations to the Taking Care Fund are tax-deductible.
Apply
If you are a theatre-maker – on stage or off – currently residing and working (or have in the past two years) in the Washington, DC-area, and are dealing with an unforeseen medical or personal emergency, you may apply to the Taking Care Fund.
I am deeply moved and profoundly grateful for this incredible blessing. During these challenging times, with financial strains, my car being out of commission, and recent hospitalization, this gift has reignited my hope. I am eternally thankful to the DC theatre community. Your support empowers me to continue spreading the joy of art.
My life's mission is to pay this generosity forward, supporting theatre artists and craftsmen with the same compassion and kindness you've shown me.
My life's mission is to pay this generosity forward, supporting theatre artists and craftsmen with the same compassion and kindness you've shown me.
Anonymous
About the Taking Care Fund
Theatre professionals—actors, designers, directors, stage managers, box-office staff, choreographers, administrators, dramaturgs, technicians, and more—experience unforeseen personal emergencies like everyone else. Professionals in the arts often rely on working hours to “earn” healthcare benefits and lose access to those benefits when emergencies take them away from that work.
We created the Taking Care Fund in 2012 to help colleagues in need. The Taking Care Fund was established to assist area theatre professionals in times of unforeseen hardship. Support is provided in the form of an outright gift that never needs to be repaid.
Today, the Taking Care Fund is open to individuals in the theatre community facing personal emergencies, medical emergencies, debt relief, expenses related to dependent care, and financial hardship. The Taking Care Fund is a single fund with a single application. It strives to be a simple and streamlined application and approval process for those in need.
The Covid-19 Global Health Emergency
From March 2020 to February 2022, in response to the pandemic outbreak, we created additional opportunities for the long-standing Taking Care program to provide grants to theatre professionals who faced financial hardship from closings, postponed productions, and other lost wages, as well as relief for longer-term expenses like rent coverage, debt relief, and medical care. Grants were awarded between $500 and $5,000 per individual, with average grants funded at $1,500. As stated above, the Covid-19 Emergency Fund is now merged with the longstanding Medical Fund, with a single application and streamlined process.
Since March 2020, the Taking Care Fund has expanded to provide for the community:
- Over 1,100 grants have been made to theatre-workers across the Washington, DC-area
- Over $1M has been distributed through grants
- 64% of grantees have worked in the Washington, DC-area theatre community for five or more years
- 12% of grantees are living with a disability
- 64% of grantees identify as BIPOC
- 7% of grantees identify as trans or non-cisgender
- 17% of grantees are caring for dependents
Questions? Contact us!
Theatre Washington welcomes questions on the Taking Care Fund and its application process. Please contact Taking Care Fund Associate, Cody Whitfield.