Orange County NC Website
Have you <br />experienced a <br />decrease in TOTAL <br />HOUSEHOLD <br />income of 30% or <br />more? <br />Yes <br />Please explain how <br />your general <br />livelihood has been <br />impacted by COVID- <br />19. <br />Since becoming a full time working musician, my income has <br />traditionally come from multiple sources: performing liv e, teaching <br />piano lessons, recording sessions (as both performer and <br />engineer/producer), and v arious jobs related to music in churches. In <br />these four main areas, ov er the last four months, my income from <br />performing liv e has been reduced by about 80-90%, my income from <br />teaching has reduced by 60-70%, and recording/production by about <br />40-50% (this source of income has been getting a little more reliable <br />as I'v e improv ed and streamlined the kind of work I'm able to do from <br />my home studio.) Only the income from my church gig has remained <br />steady (they continue to need audio and v ideo production assistance <br />for their Zoom worship serv ices), which I am v ery grateful for. <br />Howev er, it only makes up for a small amount of the income lost in <br />the other areas of my work. To put things in raw, pre-tax numbers, <br />my records show I made $811 in May and $715 in June 2020. I made, <br />roughly, before taxes, $2200 a month in 2019. The last grant I <br />receiv ed from the Orange County Arts Commission was a huge help <br />in bridging this gap. <br />On a personal note, it has been a v ery spiritually disheartening four <br />months, and not being able to perform and collaborate with my <br />friends and colleagues, other than from behind a computer screen, <br />has been a tough pill to swallow. I truly look forward to resuming my <br />work as a performing musician- it is my passion, as well as <br />something I'v e inv ested my time, money and education into. <br />Howev er, I will not be able to do this fully until industries shut down <br />by the pandemic (music v enues, bars, indoor restaurants, weddings, <br />etc, the list goes on and on) begin to reopen in earnest. <br />Have you applied for <br />unemployment <br />benefits? <br />No <br />Please explain your <br />decision to not apply <br />for benefits: <br />It is difficult to explain my financial situation as a sev erely <br />underemployed independent contractor in the arts industry. My only <br />"W 2" job is the church I prov ide music and audio engineering for, <br />and that is the one area of my income that hasn't been affected, ev en <br />though it only accounts for about $400/month. Howev er, the <br />ov erwhelming majority of my 1099 work, for people/organizations that <br />are not technically my "employers," has dried up. I do not know how, <br />and am not ev en sure if it's possible, to receiv e unemployment in my <br />situation. <br />Grant amount <br />requested: <br />600 <br />DocuSign Envelope ID: 12F862BF-A06C-4206-BCB8-F5F6F89A205E