The Actors Fund Changes Name to Entertainment Community Fund
The new name is designed to be more inclusive and representative of the diverse professions the fund serves.
(5/13/2022)
As of May 2022, The Actors Fund is now the Entertainment Community Fund. For over 140 years, The Actors Fund has helped everyone who works in performing arts and entertainment across the country. The new name is designed to be more inclusive and representative of the diverse professions it serves.
“Our membership has benefited greatly from the services of the Fund,” WGAW President Meredith Stiehm said at the Fund’s Annual Gala on May 10, at which the new name was announced. The evening raised a record-breaking $1.7 million for the longstanding organization, which will celebrate its milestone 140th anniversary in June.
“This new name will help more people in the entertainment industry to find support when they need it,” Stiehm continued.
The Entertainment Community Fund is a national human services organization with a history of helping all those who make the performing arts and entertainment possible—whether they work on stage, in front of the camera, or behind the scenes—in theater, film, dance, music, TV, opera, and radio. Through programs that focus on the unique health and wellness, career and life, and housing needs of our community, the organization supports a life in the arts, provides a safety net in times of need, and helps people maintain stability and find resiliency in a business that is anything but stable.
Writers have been among the many who have benefitted from the Fund’s programs, one of the many reasons why the WGAW has contributed more than $5.9 million in undeliverable foreign levies monies to The Entertainment Community Fund over the past 14 years (as of March 2020), including a timely donation of $590,000 in March 2020. At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Fund launched the Entertainment Community Fund Emergency Financial Assistance program to provide financial assistance to those in the community—including writers—who found themselves unable to pay for basic living expenses.
While the name has changed, the mission remains constant. The Fund exists, as it always has, to be there for all those in our community.
“It’s a new name and a new look, with the same mission,” said Fund Chairman Brian Stokes Mitchell. “We recognize the dedication of technicians, camera operators, stagehands, writers, musicians, stage managers, actors and thousands more who work in film, television, radio, music, theater, dance and opera. They all contribute to our country’s cultural vibrancy. We value them. We support them. And the Fund is here for all of them.”
To learn more about the Entertainment Community Fund, please visit entertainmentcommunity.org.