South Florida Theatre League Announces Relief Fund

The South Florida Theatre League has started a brand new program, The South Florida Theatre League Relief Fund, in light of how the COVID-19 pandemic has effected live theatre workers in South Florida. The purpose of the fund is to help theatre companies provide compensation to artists and other employees that had to be laid off because shows and events were cancelled.

"Many local artists as well as those who work behind the scenes in box offices, technician booths, and scene and costume shops have lost their main source of income as this pandemic has closed all theatres across our region," said Andie Arthur, executive director of the South Florida Theatre League.

The League is seeding the fund with money that was originally budgeted for their annual Soiree, informally called the After Party, a major networking event that normally happens right at the end of the Carbonell Awards. The board hopes that between this funding and donations from people in community, including those who have donated to the South Florida Theatre League before, that a sizeable fund can be created for those in need.

The application process will be for theatre companies only with the intent for them to pay laid off artists and other employees during this epidemic. The board of the League and executive director Andie Arthur are currently putting it together and will release it once there is a sizeable fund to allocate for this purpose.

Even when this crisis is over, the League plans for the South Florida Theatre League Relief Fund to be an operational fund that can be used in future crises, such as hurricanes and other natural disasters.

You can donate directly to the South Florida Theatre League Relief Fund online by going to the League's website at www.southfloridatheatre.com.