Musician Sustenance Program

After a lifetime of toil, the working poor often find themselves in their “Golden Years” with inadequate resources to maintain even the humblest of lifestyles.  The Musician Sustenance program steps in so our recipients do not need to choose food over medication or housing over heat.

Donate to help keep this Program alive!

Monthly Stipends:
These are granted to artists living on extremely small incomes who cannot meet their needs on a continual basis. The monthly grants are typically $50 to $200. 

J.C. McCool, old time guitarist of Black Mountain, NC just can’t make ends meet with his $400 Social Security check. JC is legally blind and 89 yrs old and can no longer work or perform publicly. The $125 MMRF sends each month allows him to buy his medication and keep up with the electric bill.

Emergency Grants:
These are one-time grants for medical crises, fire, flood, or other emergencies. To date we are only able to grant about 60% of aid requests on an annual basis.

When Hurricane Floyd flooded Eastern NC, George Higgs lost everything; within 48 hours MMRF sent a new guitar, amplifier and a check for $1,000.

Seasonal and Periodic Needs:
Musician incomes are often subject to seasonal fluctuations. The winter months are particularly difficult on our artists as work opportunities drop significantly and expenses for health care and utilities tend to escalate.

Robert Lester has played saxophone in Chicago’s Southside since the 50’s. Every year in November gigs “dry up” and he can’t pay the rent. He gives us a call and $400 can pay the month’s rent until he is back to work.

Captain Luke is the man everyone in Winston-Salem, NC depends on to get around. He takes Whistlin’ Britches to the doctor and to gigs throughout North Carolina. On his income, there is no way he could keep his car running and “street legal”. MMRF pays his insurance and auto repair bills to keep the show on the road.

Feed an Artist Initiative:
The Feed an Artist program also MMRF supporters to sponsor an artist directly with groceries for $25 per month. The Angelfood Network is a nonprofit that supplies 2-3 weeks worth of food each month. The provisions are distributed by local churches across the South.  We are providing this service for several recipients in North Carolina and Alabama and plan to expand as distribution becomes available in more areas. In addition, MMRF has arranged for volunteers to deliver the food to shut in artists. Where Angelfood services are not available, MMRF matches the supporters gift and mails recipient artists $50 to buy groceries each month.

Making a Difference with Services:
Successful interaction with government bureaucracies, insurance companies, medical services is difficult for many recipient artists.  MMRF can be a bridge to resources available to artists and offer assistance with. 

Social Services:
• Passport acquisition (so artist can gig abroad)
• Free residential drug and alcohol addiction treatment through Pavillion International
• Doctors (volunteers) to facilitate communications with medical services
• Applications to HUD, Social Security and pharmaceutical programs
• Assistance to schedule and maintain doctor visits & prescription refills
• Final Wishes – assistance with wills, funeral arrangements or donations
• Utility and insurance company communications
• Travel Arrangements
• Home and auto repairs
• Free Legal Services

Future of Musician Sustenance:
When we can channel resources from other agencies to our recipients, the impact on their life is much greater than the resources MMRF expends. MMRF will continue to prepare for the emergency expenses, periodic needs that are a feature of our recipients’ financial landscape.  At current funding levels we can meet about 60% of need.  Ideally, every MMRF recipient living at or near the poverty line would receive a monthly stipend. We would like to step that up annually to meet demand in the next 3 years.