Eligibility Requirements

1) Be a Professional Craft Artist

How Does CERF Define Craft?

Craft is the creation of original objects by the skillful manipulation of materials. These materials were traditionally considered to be clay, fiber, metal, wood, or glass. However, today’s craft artist may also employ concrete, plastic, synthetic fibers, recycled materials and other non-traditional materials. Craft objects may be functional or nonfunctional, but both types derive part of their meaning from their association with traditional functional forms such as chairs, vessels, garments or implements. Qualities that contribute to the success of a craft object include the skill of the maker, the beauty of the material, the refinement of the design, the familiarity of the form, the originality of expression - or all of these.

In addition to satisfying the above definition, eligible work must:

• Be well crafted and well designed, exhibiting integrity as traditional or contemporary craft.
• Demonstrate technical competency and personal identity.
• Not be produced with commercial kits, molds, patterns, plans, prefabricated forms or other commercial methods.
• Be created by the applicant artist in a studio. Some of the work may be created by others that you directly supervise.
• Be created in the United States or by a US artist while working abroad.

Professional Artist

To be considered a professional (craft) artist:

• For the three years before your recent emergency, you must have earned at least 50% of your income from the sale of your craft art (a portion of this income may come from a related activity, such as teaching craft) and spent at least 50% of your work time producing and marketing your work.

Or you must meet these alternative professional guidelines.

• CERF recognizes that certain craft artists are producing bodies of work that are experimental, sufficiently new, or may not be commercially viable in the short term, yet are an important part of the vitality of the craft field. We understand that in some of these cases an artist may need to generate the majority of his or her income from sources other than the sale of this work. It is rare that an applicant meets these requirements as they are necessarily more stringent than the income requirement above. To qualify you must demonstrate:
• Outstanding quality and depth of work represented by at least 10 images of recent work.
• Ongoing and substantive exhibitions record documented through a verifiable listing of key exhibitions.
• Catalogs of recent and past exhibitions, reviews of exhibitions, articles documenting work, and/or other documentation that helps establish professionalism, excellence, and involvement in the craft field.
• Listing of fellowships, awards, and honors.
• At least three professional references.
• A brief (one page) statement discussing the nature and objectives of your work and explaining why you believe the 50% income requirement should be waived for your work.

2) Have Experienced a Recent Career-Threatening Emergency

You must have experienced a recent, unforeseen emergency or triggering event that has significantly and adversely affected your ability to produce and/or market your work and, thus, creates the need for immediate relief funds and/or assistance.

3) Be a Legal US Resident