IndieSpace Reveals Recipients of Itty Bitty Mini Guaranteed Income Program

IndieSpace has named indie theater artists Courtney Seyl, Dmitri Victor Barcomi, Jermaine Rowe, and Lauren Lindsey as the inaugural recipients of their Itty Bitty Mini Guaranteed Income Program, a new 3-year program in which low-income NYC Indie Theater Artists will receive a $1K per month stipend and a $3K per year savings grant, for the duration of the program. Recipients will also receive optional financial and business coaching.

The Ittly Bitty Mini Guaranteed Income Program started with funding just one person. Thanks to additional funds from the now-sunset program, Creatives Rebuild NY, IndieSpace was able to fund three additional artists for the full three years of the program. This reinforces IndieSpace's motto of "if we build it, they will come."

The Itty Bitty Mini Guaranteed Income Program is IndieSpace's version of Guaranteed Income. IndieSpace wanted to focus their work on an artist's personal safety net, savings, and potential for retirement. As an organization that provides small emergency grants to the indie theater community, IndieSpace saw firsthand how one small emergency or loss of a paycheck is enough to destabilize the workers in the indie theater field. This new program aims to address the cushion, the savings and safety nets for the indie theater community and to think about the funding cliff at the end of the Guaranteed Income program.

Recipients will receive $1,000 per month for three years. In addition, $3000 per year will be placed in a high-yield savings account held by IndieSpace in the artist's name, which will be granted to them, in total, at the end of the three-year program. The participant also has the option to allot an additional amount of their monthly stipend into the savings account, at their discretion. At the end of the program, the full $9000 ($3,000 per year), plus any additional funds the participant contributes to the savings account and any accrued interest, will be given to the participant in one final lump sum. In addition to the monthly payments, the program will provide optional support services, such as access to IndieSpace vetted financial planners to assess the artist's current financial health and help them make plans for the future.