The City of Santa Rosa is currently accepting applications for its Musician Relief Grants, which will award $2,000 to Santa Rosa musicians facing financial hardship due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
With clubs and venues shut down for a full year this month, many musicians and artists who rely on performing for their income have been devastated financially as the pandemic has rolled from 2020 into 2021.
This Musician Relief Grant program aims to support working musicians in the Santa Rosa arts community by providing funds to assist the musicians in the city who have lost income due to the inability to perform live.
The grant program is run by the City of Santa Rosa Public Art Program in conjunction with the City of Santa Rosa Economic Recovery Task Force. The funding is intended for professional musicians who earn at least part-time income through their career and/or generate income from their music. To be eligible, Santa Rosa-based musicians must be able to demonstrate a sustained commitment to their musical career, must be experiencing financial hardship due to the Covid-19 pandemic and must be at least 18-years-old.
On its website, the city of Santa Rosa writes that “The Musician Relief Grants strives to ensure that musicians across Santa Rosa have access to this relief funding. Eligibility will NOT be affected by gender, race, sexual orientation, age or US resident status. To ensure equitable distribution of funds, we encourage individuals who identify with vulnerable demographics to apply including musicians of color, native and Indigenous musicians, immigrant musicians, disabled musicians, and LGBTQ musicians to apply.”
Musicians who want to apply for the relief grant can go online here. Select the icon for ‘City of Santa Rosa Musician Relief Grants’ and complete the online form. Once submitted, a follow-up email will notify the applicant that their application has been successfully received via the email provided in the online form.Â
The grant application deadline is end-of-day on Sunday, April 11. Applicants will be notified of their application status in mid to late May.
In addition to local musicians, Santa Rosa is looking for qualified visual artists to design, fabricate and install site-specific public art for one wall of the Fifth Street Parking Garage in downtown Santa Rosa.
A “Call for Artists” is currently on the City of Santa Rosa’s webpage. The city is looking for practicing, professional artists residing in Northern California and Sonoma County artists are encouraged to apply.  The total available funding for the project is $20,000 (all inclusive – design and construction) and comes from the City of Santa Rosa Parking Division and the Public Art Fund. The deadline to apply is 5pm on March 15.
On the website, the City of Santa Rosa Public Art Program writes that, “the goal of this completed project is to draw positive attention to and increase the visibility of the Fifth Street Garage, which even regular visitors to the downtown often do not know exists. The art will distinguish the garage from nearby structures, serve as a wayfinding element through identification and draw people to the site. The artwork will improve the aesthetics of the garage as seen from the street and by pedestrians.”
