Bette Midler is Matching Up To $100,000 in Donations To BC/EFA's Emergency Assistance Fund

Bette Midler is personally matching donations to Broadway Cares' COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund, up to $100,000.

Fans of The Divine Miss M and theater lovers everywhere can join Midler by donating at broadwaycares.org/help2020.

Your donation supports those onstage, backstage and behind the scenes who are facing health and financial challenges, which intensify each day as theaters remain dark and television and film production are shut down during this pandemic. Those supported by the emergency assistance fund include stage managers, ushers, ticket takers, hair and makeup artists, dressers, box office personnel, performers and everyone in the industry who makes the magic of live theater possible.

"Between her awe-inspiring talent and boundless generosity, we are so grateful to have Bette as a loyal and true friend of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS," Executive Director Tom Viola said. "As our performing arts community faces unprecedented hardship, her enthusiasm and advocacy allows us to continue providing lifesaving, life-affirming assistance to our friends and neighbors on Broadway and beyond."

Donations to Broadway Cares' special emergency fund, administered by The Actors Fund, are helping those in theater and entertainment access a full safety net of urgent and vital services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Donations to the Emergency Assistance Fund are immediately being put to good work. Since the beginning of the pandemic, The Actors Fund has provided support to more than 8,500 performing arts and entertainment professionals. In the first four weeks of the industry shutdown, The Actors Fund distributed more financial assistance than it normally does in a year.

Broadway Cares launched the emergency fund March 17, 2020, with an initial $250,000. Special fundraising initiatives have included $52,000 generated by Lin-Manuel Miranda during a special segment of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: At Home Edition . Another $73,000 was raised through a star-studded virtual reading of Lips Together, Teeth Apart on April 6, performed by Jesse Tyler Ferguson , Ari Graynor , Celia Keenan-Bolger and Zachary Quinto . The performance was in honor of playwright Terrence McNally , who passed away due to complications from COVID-19. On April 19, a site-specific performance of Jonathan Tolins ' Buyer & Cellar starring Michael Urie raised $209,262. On April 30, the upcoming Broadway musical Sing Street streamed a special video dubbed "Grounded - At Home with the Broadway Cast," which raised $310,924. Last Sunday, "Broadway Does Mother's Day," which featured Midler and other Broadway stars, their children and their mothers celebrating the day with skits and songs, raised more than $160,000.