After 140 years, The Actors Fund solves an identity crisis with a new name: Entertainment Community Fund

Exclusive Interviews: Since the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020, The Actors Fund, a 140-year organization providing emergency financial assistance and other support services to the performing arts industry, has distributed over $ 26.8 million in assistance. . food, premiums, health insurance For 17,900 people. The pandemic era distribution represents 13 times the amount of aid the foundation typically issues in an average year.

With his name and services reaching unprecedented numbers of people, the rebranding may seem a bit counterintuitive, but that’s exactly what foundation officials said last night: for now, The Actors Fund, the name is designed. to better reflect the whole field. . Professionals of the sector frequented by the group.

The change was announced last night by actor and foundation president Brian Stokes Mitchell at the foundation’s annual gala, which was held in both Los Angeles and New York. Broadcast simultaneously from both coasts, the evening raised a record $ 1.7 million for the organization, which celebrates its 140th anniversary in June.

“It’s a new name and a new face, with the same mission,” Mitchell said. “We recognize technicians, cameramen, set designers, writers, musicians, directors, actors and thousands of others who work in film, television, radio, music, theater, dance and opera. All of them contribute to the cultural activity of our country. We appreciate you. We support them. And the fund is here for all of them. “

During a pandemic, the fund, as it is called for large-scale shorts, serves more than 60,000 people in 2020 and 2021, a 68% increase over the previous two years without a pandemic. As of March 2020, approximately $ 26.8 million in emergency financial assistance will be provided to approximately 17,900 people.

“We have worked extensively to meet the needs of people working in the entertainment industry across the country,” said Joseph Beninkasa, president and CEO of the Foundation. “Now, with our new name, we are able to reflect the full spectrum of our work and the wide range of performing arts and entertainment professionals we serve.

In terms of health insurance alone, the foundation has helped more than 5,700 people navigate and underwrite insurance plans during a pandemic, though confusion has also arisen among the people it was created for: when someone is told who needs help. . Services available, a good opportunity to answer: “But I’m not an actor”.

“I remember my first week on the job,” Beninkas said in an exclusive interview with Deadline. And I remember the distribution committee chairman, who I knew well, and he had Helen Hayes on her arm at the time, saying, ‘The actors don’t need help. The actors are rich. ‘ Obviously, I had to learn the basics of health insurance, affordable health, the need for direct financial assistance when they hit a low point. So we got funding from United Way.

“Whenever I or any of us talk about the cast,” Mitchell told Deadline, “we should always say this isn’t just for the actors. It’s almost like a slogan: “It’s not just for the actors”, because people don’t understand. As soon as they hear about the Actors Fund, what they hear is the actors and then they think it’s the actors’ background, even if it’s explained in many different ways. “

The new name of the fund will be followed by the launch of the advertising Benincas said the main demand and goal is to triple the number of people they serve across the country, including markets like Atlanta, Miami, Las Vegas and other major entertainment industries.

“Our goal is to help triple the number of people over the next three to five years. Beninkasa said. “Very often direct financial aid is the first way we help them, but then they turn to various foundation programs for help. We look forward to the fact that as we advance in this digital format and hybrid way of helping people in every state, more and more people will find that they can turn to the foundations for help.

Stokes and Beninkasa said the name change has been under consideration for years, with increased visibility following the pandemic which forced the organization not to delay any further. “We did a very thorough review of the members,” Beninkasa told Deadline, “and all the information that came to us in four or five years that this name was preventing people from understanding who we are, who we are helping.”

With its new self-explanatory name, The Entertainment Community Fund, and with its new official logo and slogan “Supporting a Life in the Arts”, the organization seeks to define who it serves: simply anyone working in the performing arts and entertainment. . . The pandemic, said Benincas and Mitchell, has shown more clearly than ever the perfection of the needs of a professional entertainment community in cities across the country. Although working conditions have improved since the worst period of the pandemic closure, the performing arts are recovering more slowly than other industries, Covid continues to face programming delays in regional Broadway theaters, concert halls and others. entertainment venues across the country.

With its new name and aggressive donation of donations and grants, the Foundation hopes to triple the number of people it serves over the next five years, in theater, film, television and other arts, to reach workers both inside and outside. outside the community. . “ᲛᲔ“It’s for the people behind the scenes and behind the scenes,” Benincas said. “This is a cinematographer. is the director This is a scene. is colorful The best guy. This is absolutely everything. “

“We first tried this about a dozen years ago,” Stokes said. “When he first appeared in the conversation, the discussion was very lively in the classroom and also with the staff. So we decided it wasn’t the right time. But with a pandemic, more openness and more inclusion in so many organizations and groups, it’s kind of a perfect storm to bring all the right elements together. “

More recently, he continued, the name change has sparked “a very, very strong discussion” in the organization, with some worried that the new name will give up significant brand equity.

“As long as everyone knows we were an Actors Fund, eventually everyone will come,” Stokes said, adding that the wording under “Ex Actors Fund” will be followed by a new name during the transition period.

Members of the Foundation, Supporters of the name change, including trade unions and other nonprofits, include Meredith Steam, president of the Writers Guild of America West; Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, executive director of SAG-AFTRA; Loeb, Leslie Linka Glatter, president of the American Directors Guild, and Kate Schindley, president of the Actors Capital Association, made statements of support. “We couldn’t have come up with a better name to pursue this amazing legacy than the Entertainment Community Fund,” said Tom Viola, executive director of Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS. “It really reflects the wide range of people they help and the wide range of services provided to all.”

At last night’s gala, actress and fundraiser Chandra Wilson said, “Whether you’re doing cabaret in Chicago or music videos in Atlanta, the Entertainment Community Fund is here for you. The performing arts and entertainment are a key part of every community, large and small, across the country, and the foundation is here to help people in this space, whatever they do. We recognize that sustaining life in the arts can be a unique challenge. That is why we have come together as a community to help each other. “

While most of the foundation’s future expansion will involve the digital realm, the organization has announced plans to create a Hollywood art team that includes two buildings that together provide an accessible space for art and entertainment professionals: live, work and believe. Hollywood.
The foundation also operates several affordable residential residences in New York and Los Angeles, as well as offering training seminars on affordable housing options, eligibility, and preparation for the housing application process.

Other Foundation Services: Samuel J. Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts, Entertainment Community Fund and Mt. Sinai Doctors program, located at the Entertainment Community Fund headquarters in Times Square, and The Actors Fund Home in Innglewood, New Jersey. , supportive housing, skilled nursing care, short-term rehabilitation and memory care residency. (Actors Fund Home will retain the name Actors Fund.)

And with the new name, new awards arrived: at last night’s gala, the first medals of honor from the Entertainment Community Fund were presented to Emmy Award-winning actor and activist Uzo Aduba; Paramount Global President and CEO Bob Bakish; Oscar, Tony and Golden Globe-winning actress Mercedes Ruel; and Robert E., president and CEO of the Schubert Organization. Wankel.