Singapore jazz musicians can get up to $1,800 from new crisis fund

The new Jass Crisis Fund will give a one-time grant to local jazz musicians based in Singapore and have been making a living as professional jazz musicians for at least three consecutive years. PHOTO: JAZZASSOCIATION.SG

SINGAPORE - Jazz musicians who have seen a drop in their income can now get up to $1,800 from The Jazz Association (Singapore) (Jass).

The new Jass Crisis Fund will give a one-time grant to local jazz musicians whose earnings have been affected by crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic, or health issues which prevent them from working.

Those keen have until Nov 5 to apply online here. All applicants will be kept confidential.

The fund is only available to Singapore citizens and permanent resident who are at least 21 years old.

They must be based in Singapore and have been making a living as professional jazz musicians for at least three consecutive years.

They must also have experienced a 40 per cent or more loss in monthly income for at least three consecutive months.

Full-time national servicemen are not eligible.

Applicants will be assessed by a panel made up of Jass board directors. These include jazz veteran and Cultural Medallion recipient Jeremy Monteiro; chief executive officer of law firm Adsan Law LLC, Susan Leong; and executive director of F&B company Neo Group, Sally Liew.

The panel will look into criteria such as the personal and household needs of the applicant, and their contributions to the home-grown jazz scene.

According to Jass, the number and amount of the grants given out will be subjected to the "availability of funds". They may also extend the deadline or reopen the applications if there are enough funds.

Monteiro says that although musicians in every genre are suffering significant losses in income, jazz musicians are especially hard hit because they do not operate in the mainstream.

"Some have adapted by doing live-stream and session work online and remotely, some have started teaching online as well.

"But this only represents a small portion of their already modest income and so many are definitely feeling the bite."

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