​ELIGIBILITY  FOR  EAG's PROGRAMS  AND  SERVICES

If you think you may be eligible for our programs and services, please give us a call at (212)-685-2927 or email our executive director, Karen Lehman Foster, at karen@actorsguild.org.   

To be eligible for EAG Programs and Services, applicants must present the following:

A.  Proof of status as a professional performing artist: 

1. The primary determining criterion for eligibility is that the applicant be a professional performing artist who is pursuing an established and ongoing career in the performing arts. ​ Theatre performers who perform live onstage before a live audience are the primary focus of the program. 

B.  Proof of an ongoing and sustained professional career:

1. Documentation of a minimum of 5 consecutive years of earnings as a professional performing artist, of which at least 3 separate years must present annual earnings of at least $5,000.
2. If a career of 10 or more cumulative years can be documented, 5 of those years must present earnings of at least $5,000.
3. A career of 20 or more cumulative years must present earnings of $5,000 or more in 10 of those years.
4. If an individual is disabled or retired, earnings during the final 5 years of a career before retirement or disability may be considered. Performers who are vested and receiving performing arts union pensions are also eligible. 

C.  Proven need:

1. Applicants must be in a state of economic need because of extenuating circumstances such as debilitating illness, (including chemical dependency problems); illness or death of a family member or significant other; a sudden increase in expenses or an unforeseen drop in income; or, if retired or disabled, an insufficient fixed income from sources such as pensions, social security, and/or disability benefits.  
2. For applicants who are in good health, it is expected that efforts have been made to secure supplementary income by employment outside the performing arts professions, and/or of other good faith efforts to plan for and to secure income in support of their circumstances. 
3. Applicants with health problems must provide documentation of their medical condition from their health care provider stating the nature of illness, course of treatment, and prognosis.
4. Proof of financial need must be documented in the form of invoices, unpaid bills, current printouts of union earnings statements, pay stubs, contracts, bank statements showing depletion of funds, and/or copies of recent federal income tax returns proving low income and exhaustion of other available resources such as savings accounts, trust funds, real estate equity, or available pension plans. For rental arrears, evidence of emergency need, such as eviction notices or court-ordered stipulations, must be presented as documentation. 

D.  Proven lack of other resources: 

1. Applicants must prove that there are no other personal resources (including personal checking and savings accounts) or other public welfare agency resources available to them with which to address their presented needs.
2. They must also prove that their needs have not already been substantially met or cannot be met by the relief funds of their parent union and/or other unions, by the Actors’ Fund of America, and/or other performing arts charitable organizations.

E.  Proof of residency in the New York City area

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EAG is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts.