NCCA provides aid to affected artists

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) plans to give out P4-million cash assistance to artists and cultural workers affected by the COVID-19 crisis.

Under the “NCCA’s Assistance Program for Cultural Workers Under the State of Calamity,” some 800 beneficiaries will receive P5,000 each to help them tide over the extended quarantine period.

Priority are freelance artists and cultural workers without regular income or with no benefits.

Executive Council members of NCCA’s 19 National Committees representing the various sectors of culture and the arts were tasked to shortlist 35 priority beneficiaries who must submit a copy of their IDs and other requirements.

The group Artists Welfare of the Philippines Inc. will identify 135 artists in its network.

Artists and cultural workers whose names were among the 748 applications submitted for the Labor Department’s Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers or Tupad Amelioration Program are no longer covered by this assistance program.