NEW YORK – Like so many, the pandemic upended life for actor and dancer Rena Riffel. The Los Angeles-based performer needed help with rent, utilities and counselling when jobs suddenly dried up. “Being an artist, we are already very fragile with our finances," she said. ”It's like an ebb and flow.
So when the pandemic happened and everything shut down, for myself and for everyone else, there’s really no hope. There's no opportunity." Riffel's experience is echoed in a new survey by The Actors Fund that illustrates the depths of need created by the COVID-19 pandemic in the arts community.
Released Thursday, it reveals financial hardship, food insecurity and lost housing. The survey of 7,163 people helped by the organization — including