<i>Jewelry Artist</i> Bonus Episode: CERF+ Covid-19 Relief for Artists

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You are not alone. Coronavirus, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards and raging wildfires are among the disasters disrupting craft businesses and sending jewelry artists and other craftspeople to the Craft Emergency Relief Fund Plus (CERF+), the artist’s safety net. But CERF has been providing illness, accident, and natural disaster recovery assistance to jewelry and other artists for over 35 years. When it added emergency preparedness to its programs, it added the Plus.

ABOVE: Hurricane Irma, 2017, striking Miami, Florida, with 100+ mph winds and destructive storm surge; PHOTO: WARREN FAIDLEY/THE IMAGE BANK/GETTY IMAGES

In 2020, CERF+ was forced to regroup again by the unprecedented need stemming directly from Covid-19 and related economic upheavals. CERF+ has offered two rounds of artist assistance grants recently and more could be coming. Learn how the organization is handling crises arising from the pandemic and other emergencies as well as its newer focus on preparedness all on the Jewelry Artist podcast.

Listen to the updated podcast below or wherever you subscribe to podcasts!

Passing the Hat

Education and Outreach Manager for CERF+ Carrie Cleveland describes what things were like pre-CERF. Typically un- or under-insured but with a strong sense of community, craftspeople tended to help out one another as need arose. Someone was robbed or developed a serious illness, a studio burned down or flooded out, and word went out. Artisans with a little to spare chipped in, literally passing a hat from booth to booth at the next craft show. It seemed there was always another emergency, though, and there had to be a better way. There was: a formal grant-awarding organization whose business wasn’t making art or running a business but supporting those artists in times of need.

In 2017 Megan Clark’s show inventory was stolen from the trunk of her locked car. The next day CERF contacted her to help. Megan Clark’s Deco Fan ring, 18K gold, sterling, rose cut green tourmaline, diamond; photo: Cole Rodger, courtesy Megan Clark

Community Spirit

Founded by community-spirited artists, CERF+ is especially sensitive to the feelings of isolation that can overwhelm individuals when disaster strikes. In “CERF Is There for You,” Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist September/October 2020, Sharon Thompson describes how successful CERF is at helping craftspeople move forward. She interviewed jewelry artists Megan Clark, Rebecca Rose,Valerie Hector, and Diane Falkenhagen who shared different stories with similar conclusions. “The artists we spoke with all said the financial help was a welcome lifeline . . . but every one of them also said that the financial support was the least of it. It was the outreach, the efforts that CERF made to make sure the artists knew they weren’t alone.”

*Rebecca Rose and her husband used funds from a CERF grant to repair her home studio in Davenport, Florida, following Hurricane Irma in 2017; photo courtesy Rebecca Rose*

Thompson, who usually keeps herself well out of a story, was so impressed that she added a personal note. Having “spent a lifetime among jewelry craftspeople,” she wrote, she “was so moved by the artists’ stories and the good the organization has done” that she appealed to readers who could to help out with donations.

*Rebecca Rose, Monitoring two-finger ring, sterling silver; photo courtesy Rebecca Rose*

They Go Out of Their Way to Make It Easy

*After Valerie Hector lost show inventory in 2014, she got a call from CERF with an offer of aid. These are her Thistle earrings; photo courtesy Valerie Hector*

Anyone who’s struggled through applying for a federal government Coronavirus relief grant, or even just a garden-variety community grant, knows how time consuming and confusing it can be. CERF+ has put special effort into streamlining its application process and including instructions human beings can follow.

CERF+ emailed jewelry artist Diane Falkenhagen after her Galveston, Texas, studio was flooded out by Hurricane Ike in 2008. When she didn’t respond, they phoned her with help to fill out a grant application. She was stunned. From her Native Species Series: Danaus Plexippus brooch, stainless steel framework, graphite drawings on powder-coated stainless elements; photo: Diane Falkenhagen

And when they say “outreach” they mean it: CERF has contacted many artists directly as soon as they’ve learned about a setback. In some cases, they’ve contacted an artist again if they didn’t hear back. It’s part of what artists mean when they talk about getting support that gives them the courage to keep going. Long after they’ve spent CERF grant money to rebuild or restock, it’s that sense of someone having their back that sticks with them. In better times, that can be all you need.

Listen In to CERF+: Covid-19 Relief for Artists

Join host Katie Hacker as she delves into the good works that are the heart and soul of the Craft Emergency Relief Fund with its Education and Outreach Manager, Carrie Cleveland.