Guaranteed Income Program Guidelines

CRNY’s Guaranteed Income for Artists program will provide regular, no-strings-attached cash payments for 2,400 artists who have financial need. Each artist will receive $1,000 per month for 18 consecutive months.

We are no longer accepting applications to the Guaranteed Income for Artists program. The program guidelines will remain available below for reference throughout the application period and selection process.

Guaranteed income programs build safety nets to ensure that no individual falls below a defined income floor over time. They enable people to weather crises and plan for the future. CRNY’s Guaranteed Income for Artists program takes inspiration from economic and racial justice movements of the past, government actors, reparations-focused philanthropists, and recent pilots and programs across the world.

Many guaranteed income pilots have demonstrated the efficacy of regular cash payments to improve individuals’ well-being and financial stability. Building on this body of evidence, our program’s goal is to help artists meet their basic needs outside of traditional or merit-based grantmaking.

How This Program Was Designed

In the fall of 2021, Creatives Rebuild New York convened a Think Tank—a diverse coalition of New York State artists, scholars, strategists, and activists with wide-ranging identities and lived experiences. Through bi-monthly facilitated digital meetings, this group determined the overall direction of both Guaranteed Income for Artists and Artist Employment Programs.

Important Dates

A detailed timeline with instructions for all required next steps—from Submitting Documentation of Eligibility to Onboarding—will be provided to selected artists by April 15, 2022.

Sequence of Activities

Application Period: All applications will be submitted online.

Selection: After the application period closes, eligible participants will be selected through a process that ensures equitable distribution. See Section 5, “Selection Process” for more information.

Notification of Selection: All applicants will be notified of their status. Artists who are selected to participate will receive a detailed timeline and instructions for required next steps. Artists who are not selected will be automatically added to a newsletter with information about other resources and aid they may qualify for.

Submitting Documentation of Eligibility: Before confirming entry to the program, CRNY requires that selected artists submit documentation of their eligibility.

Verification: An independent team of artists and verification experts will confirm selected artists’ eligibility based on their submitted documentation.

Benefits Counseling: After successful verification, selected artists who receive public benefits prior to accepting, will be provided with an opportunity to connect with a Benefits Counselor to consider the potential impact of this Guaranteed Income on the public benefits they receive.

Onboarding: Once they accept participation in the program, selected artists will be enrolled into the payment system.

Who Can Apply

Eligible participants must meet the following requirements:

• 18 years of age or older as of January 1, 2022
• Primary residence in New York State at the time of application
• Have financial need (as determined by the Self-Sufficiency Standard) – For this program, an applicant qualifies if their household income falls under the Self-Sufficiency Standard.
• Identify as an artist, culture bearer, or culture maker – An artist, culture bearer, or culture maker (‘artist’) is someone who regularly engages in artistic or cultural practice to: express themselves with the intention of communicating richly to or sharing with others; pass on traditional knowledge and cultural practices; offer cultural resources to their communities; and/or co-organize and co-create within communities toward social impacts. Artists aspire to sustain themselves through their practice and maintain a commitment to continuing their practice. Artists can work both individually and collaboratively, or as educators within their field of practice.
• Not a staff member or related to a staff member (e.g., an immediate family member) of Tides or Creatives Rebuild New York

Definitions and Details

The Self-Sufficiency Standard determines the amount of income required for working families to meet basic needs at a minimally adequate level. This Standard considers family composition, ages of children, and geographic differences in costs. 

How to use the Self-Sufficiency Standard to determine eligibility for CRNY’s Guaranteed Income Program:

• Click here to use the Self-Sufficiency Standard Calculator.*
• Input New York State, your County, and household/family type into the calculator.
• Compare the Annual Total at the bottom of the calculator (the second to last line) to your total household/family income for 2021.
• If your total household/family income for 2021 falls below the Annual Total listed in the calculator, you are eligible for this program.

*All Self-Sufficiency Standard data produced by the Center for Women’s Welfare at University of Washington are publicly available.

Artistic and cultural practice includes: Craft, Dance, Design, Film, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Music, Oral Traditions, Social Practice, Theater, Performance Art, Traditional Arts, Visual Arts, and Interdisciplinary Arts. Click here for a detailed description of each discipline.

How CRNY defines artist

DEFINITION

Creatives Rebuild New York defines an artist, culture bearer, or culture maker (‘artist’) as someone who regularly engages in artistic or cultural practice to: express themselves with the intention of communicating richly to or sharing with others; pass on traditional knowledge and cultural practices; offer cultural resources to their communities; and/or co-organize and co-create within communities toward social impacts. Artists aspire to sustain themselves through their practice and maintain a commitment to continuing their practice. Artists can work both individually and collaboratively, or as educators within their field of practice.

DISCIPLINES

Artistic and cultural practice includes, but is not limited to:

Craft (Includes artists working in ceramics, glass, jewelry, metalworking, and textiles – fiber, weaving, and quilting)

Dance (Includes dancers, choreographers, and producers working in a variety of genres such as ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop, aerial, and modern)

Design (Includes designers working in the fields of fashion, graphic, object, and industrial design)

Film (Includes artists, actors, directors, creative producers, and others working in a variety of genres, such as animation, fiction, documentary, episodic, experimental, and narrative)

Literary Arts (Includes writers who work in genres such as fiction, nonfiction, short story writing, memoir, screenwriting, poetry, comedy, children’s literature, and graphic novel)

Media Arts (Includes artists, culture bearers, and culture makers working at the intersection of technology, aesthetics, storytelling, and digital cultures)

Music (Includes singers, musicians, composers, producers (those who create the sound and feel of the recording), DJs (original work), and live sound designers working in a variety of genres such as hip hop, jazz, rock, pop, country, and classical)

Oral Traditions (Includes artists, culture bearers, and culture makers whose knowledge, art, ideas, and intangible cultural material received, preserved, and transmitted from one generation to another through speech or song; may include folktales, ballads, chants, prose or verses, and storytelling)

Social Practice (Includes socially engaged and civically engaged artists, culture bearers, and culture makers whose art involves people and communities in debate, collaboration, or social interaction and work wherein artists partner with communities toward community development outcomes)

Theater (Includes actors and actresses, directors, playwrights, costume designers, stage designers, and lighting designers in a variety of genres such as experimental, live action, puppetry, opera, and musical theater)

Performance Art (Includes artists, culture bearers, and culture makers whose work is created through actions performed by the artist or other participants, which may be live or recorded, spontaneous or scripted, tactical and site performance)

Traditional Arts (Includes artists, culture bearers, and culture makers whose work is rooted in and reflective of the tradition and/or cultural heritage of a community, transmitted from generation to generation, such as cultural dance, cultural music, traditional crafts, and foodways)

Visual Arts (Includes artists, culture bearers, and culture makers whose arts practice is installation, illustration, painting, drawing, collage, printmaking, photography, sculpture, video art, or public art)

Interdisciplinary Arts (Includes artists, culture bearers, and culture makers who use an interdisciplinary approach involving more than one artistic discipline)

While we understand that artistic and cultural practices are defined broadly, CRNY is unable to consider applications from individuals whose main connection to the arts is through arts administration or commercial merchants or vendors working in fields such as, but not limited to: baking and culinary arts; cosmetology; architecture, interior, landscape design; radio—personalities and DJs; event planning and production; and wellness and fitness.

Restrictions

Artists are not permitted to apply to both the Guaranteed Income for Artists and Artist Employment Programs. We encourage all potential applicants to consider, prior to applying, which program is best suited to their needs. For more information about the Artist Employment Program, click here.

Our Guaranteed Income for Artists program does not put artists in competition with each other based on artistic merit. Like many other guaranteed income programs, our selection process seeks to minimize bias and opinions about worthiness. Our process allows us to uphold our belief that achieving equity matters and acknowledges that harm has historically been inflicted on certain populations, and these populations face structural barriers to reaching financial security.

The 2,400 eligible artists will be selected through a randomized process that prioritizes people who hold the following identities or community conditions (in no particular order):

• Black, Indigenous, and People of Color
• Deaf/Disabled
• LGBTQIAP+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, Asexual/Aromantic, Pansexual+)
• Caregivers
• Immigrants
• Criminal Legal System Involvement
• Lack of Financial Safety Net
• Rural

Applicants who are selected to participate will be required to submit documentation that verifies their eligibility. By April 15, 2022, each selected artist will be provided with a detailed timeline including instructions for all required next steps.

This notification will include an updated list of the exact documentation CRNY and its team of independent artists and data experts require in order to complete the verification. Artists will be notified if their eligibility is not able to be verified.

Documents may include:

• 18 years of age or older as of January 1, 2022
  • Passport or Photo ID
  • Any of the residency documents below with a date of birth
• Primary residence in New York State
  • A non-expired NYS driver’s license
  • A non-expired NYS non-driver ID
  • A non-expired NYC learner’s permit issued by DMV
  • A non-expired iDNYC
  • State or federal tax filing or return for 2020 or 2021, whichever is most recent
  • Copy of a utility bill
  • Bank or credit card statement
  • A lease or sublease, mortgage payment, or property tax statement
  • Medical statement, bill, or record
• Identify as an artist, culture bearer, or culture maker – The following items will be used only to verify your eligibility according to CRNY’s definition of artists, culture bearers, or culture makers. Your materials will not be reviewed for merit or excellence.
  • Describe your way of being an artist, culture bearer, or culture maker that explains your commitment and practice [limit 100-300 words] OR — 
  • Upload a video or audio of yourself describing your way of being an artist, culture bearer, or culture maker that explains your commitment and practice [limit 2 minutes]
  • AND – Provide a URL to a website, social media, press links, or any other digital presence that demonstrates your practice [If you are not able to provide a URL, you will be asked to submit a Resume or Curriculum Vitae]
• Financial Need (as determined by the Self-Sufficiency Standard)
  • Self-report of your total household/family income for 2021
  • Self-report of your household size/family composition.
  • Submission of your income information through our verification expert’s secure portal. OR – A set of documents that best represent your household/family income for 2021, which may include:
    • W2(s) for 2021
    • Form 1040 for 2021
    • Multiple 1099s for 2021
    • Combination of pay stubs and 1099s for 2021

Taking part in the Creatives Rebuild New York Guaranteed Income Program might impact city, state, or federal benefits you currently receive.

Artists who are selected to participate and currently receive benefits will have access to a benefits counselor. Meeting with a benefits counselor can assist in understanding how income will affect your eligibility for the public benefits that you currently receive, such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Medicaid, Medicare, Veterans Benefits, and Public Housing. Although each case will be different, Social Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) are likely to be impacted.

Our benefits counseling partners will aid selected artists in their decision to accept or decline the guaranteed income. Once enrolled in the program, the benefits counselors will also be available to assist with any ongoing benefit-related issues, should they arise.

CRNY will establish and maintain appropriate security measures designed to ensure the confidentiality of participant information and to prevent unauthorized access, destruction, loss, or alteration of such data. Submittable, our application platform, has a variety of security features and compliance certifications that can be found here: https://www.submittable.com/security/

Information submitted as part of the Guaranteed Income for Artists application process will be shared as de-identified, anonymized data with partners who assist CRNY with selection and impact assessment processes. Applicants will not be personally identified in any outputs from these processes unless additional consent is sought and secured.

Participants’ information may additionally be shared, upon consent, with benefits counseling partners to facilitate counseling about the potential loss of benefits due to participation in the program.

Participants’ data will be kept through the end of the Creatives Rebuild New York initiative (December 2024). Additional documentation is available upon request.

All onboarding details will be provided to selected participants at the time of notification, including detailed information about start and end dates. Each participant will receive monthly $1,000 payments for 18 consecutive months.

All participants will be able to receive payments regardless of their documentation status.

An artist whose true name differs from their legal name is eligible to apply. Our application asks for both a legal name and true name so that we can complete the verification process and ensure appropriate communication with each artist.

Options for receiving payments will depend on several variables, but will either be via a pre-paid reloadable debit card or via direct deposit into the artist’s existing account of choice. All details will be clearly articulated in the detailed timeline and next steps provided at the time of notification or emailing HelpDesk@creativesrebuildny.org.