A fund meant to provide much-needed financial assistance to employees of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York who have been negatively impacted as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The Guggenheim Mutual Aid Fund arose from the desire to provide economic assistance to fellow Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum employees who have been negatively impacted as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.
If you've ever been to the Guggenheim and realized just how magical the building, art, and exhibitions are, please consider donating to the fund to help the invaluable staff members who create those world-renowned experiences. If you're a current or former Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum employee who is able to give at this time, please consider helping your colleagues through this extremely uncertain and challenging moment by donating to the fund.
The fund is open to requests from both current and former Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum staff households impacted by the ongoing pandemic—whether they lost their sole source of income and health care due to layoffs; are among the numerous part-time educators, art handlers, painters, carpenters, and other exhibition workers who lost a large portion of their income; are contract employees through other companies (Allied Universal, Crothall, Event Network, Harvard, Restaurant Associates, etc.) who work at Guggenheim facilities; or are current employees who are experiencing additional medical or transit costs due to the pandemic or whose households have lost their sources of income. Many of these individuals live from paycheck to paycheck and are vulnerable to a myriad of losses, including eviction.
We envision this fund as a broad act of collegial solidarity. In creating the fund, we looked to mutual aid models provided by our fellow museum colleagues around the country, many of whom raised substantial support through generous individual donors; we hope to have similar success in providing much-needed assistance to our fellow Guggenheim workers.
To request aid, please fill out this application form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScLat3T94bdWnuN-HCr3Dp2gebds4b7F3XI-cL2puxfh4dBlA/viewform
We will select applicants using a weighted lottery. An applicant will have additional chances to win in the lottery if they: 1) identify as BIPOC, 2) are part-time/contract/on-call, and/or 3) are former full-time employees who were laid off. Using this criteria, a BIPOC person who works part-time has a greater chance to be selected than a full-time employee that has retained employment who is white. We decided on this disbursement process because BIPOC and those without health care or stable/consistent pay have been most adversely impacted by COVID-19. Former staff must have lost their job or contract at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum due to the COVID-19 pandemic in order to be eligible. We trust applicants to self-select in applying.
If chosen, applicants will need to provide verification of their connection to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, e.g. picture of staff ID, bank statement showing direct deposit of wages, picture of paystub, or W-2.
Questions? Email us at [email protected] and check out our website GuggMutualAid.org.
The Guggenheim community is strong and closely-knit—each staff member is invaluable to the museum’s success. In the thick of this pandemic, supporting our fellow colleagues is (and continues to be) top-of-mind, and creating a mutual aid fund felt like the natural response.