The AlumNest Relief Fund offered small grants of $1,000 to Chicken & Egg Pictures supported filmmakers facing a financial emergency due to COVID-19. Three rounds of funding was provided between mid 2020-early 2021.

In the beginning of April 2020, we surveyed our AlumNest–our current and former grantees–to determine how the spread of COVID-19 has impacted their lives. We knew that this crisis had affected our entire community and ecosystem, but in vastly different ways, and we wanted to hear from our filmmakers to see how our organization can best respond to the needs of the field.

From our survey, we learned that our filmmakers are in great need: 73% of filmmaker respondents indicated that COVID-19 has already had a “heavy to significant impact” on their lives; 64% of survey respondents have experienced loss of jobs such as permanent employment, gigs, work for hire; and 60% indicated the crisis has had an impact on their emotional and mental health. Many of our filmmakers lost all or nearly all their sources of income and indicated that the issues they are facing are interrelated, with one issue triggering or exacerbating another.

To disburse the grant funds, Chicken & Egg Pictures partnered with Women Make Movies, which provides distribution, production assistance and fiscal sponsorship to women filmmakers.

Read more about the AlumNest Relief Fund in the August, 2020 announcement of the program.