The issue of health insurance is a complex one for any independent artist, small collective, or cultural nonprofit. It’s certainly not a challenge unique to the arts (any small business or independent contractor is faced with similar strains). But the issue can be particularly problematic for creative professionals, who often do dangerous or physically demanding work, or do that work in less than healthy environments.
In response, the Future of Music Coalition has assembled a handy set of articles and links in their Health Insurance Navigation Tool (HINT). While developed specifically for musicians, the insights, glossary, and inventories of opportunities would be applicable to any independent artist or small cultural nonprofit.
One of the best kept secrets (too well kept) is that several years ago, The Actors’ Fund of America developed an extremely comprehensive Artists’ Health Insurance Resource Center (AHIRC for short). It’s a national on-line data base that compiles info on insurance programs state by state and then helps you find the best program for you (both for visual or performing or film artists!). Personal help from a counselor is also available. Check it out!www.actorsfund.org
I’m very curious why it’s felt that AHIRC is considered “a best kept secret”? Those of us in the info services for artists biz are well familiar with it … how can we make more folks aware of it? Just a question as we explore offering parallel info. to AHIRC on preparedness and mitigation for artists.
How do you find the arts community to inform them about anything is a timely question! Word of mouth was always the way before, and generally speaking, the arts world within the commercial world, operates this way still. I’m doing some preliminary work towards the building of a large region wide arts community database and related website which will include how artists can find all this sort of information. The Information Hub as it’s sometimes called from the outside will be served by our local Arts Council rather than one particular art organization, and hopefully we will reveal the arts community to Itself and from INSIDE the community.I hope to shape the Database according to the needs and perspective of artists, arts businesses, arts educators, and arts organizations, rather than from the needs and perspective of the Audience for the arts. I mention this because I have found it to be so difficult for non-artists to realize that because the work and and often the values of artists represent a significantly distinct (somewhat private and therefore closed) environment in the business world, they are consequently not reached through normal information or advertising channels. Most artists do NOT take in the world according to mass media. Their hearts’ insights and jobs demand that they constantly recreate their world. For this reason, except through word of mouth, there is to date no real channel to reach each artist in each community. The Unions and Associations and Guilds have usually the best collections of working artists’ names and should be the best agents of spreading information-but does every association have a sophisticated website and databse arrangement in their offices? Do they do group emailings? Will they reach the entire theatre community if they do?