Actors' Fund of America

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Actors' Fund of America is a nonprofit organization that assists entertainment and performing arts professionals through a broad spectrum of programs, including comprehensive social services, health services, supportive and affordable housing, employment and training services, and skilled nursing and assisted living care. The Fund also makes emergency grants for essential needs.

The Fund was founded by Albert Marshman Palmer on June 8, 1882, largely due to the efforts of former New York University student Harrison Grey Fiske, editor of the New York Dramatic Mirror, who was aware of the many problems faced by those in the profession. Funds raised at the 1892 Fair, held at Madison Square Garden, enabled the charity to begin providing individuals and families with assistance, including burial plots in a Brooklyn cemetery and accommodations in the Actors’ Fund home on Staten Island. Throughout the next several decades, benefit performances held throughout the country raised signifiant amounts of revenue to subsidize the Fund's many projects.

When the AIDS crisis hit the industry in the 1980s, the Fund was there to help thousands of individuals who were affected. In 1988, it helped found Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and established its own AIDS Initiative.

The Fund sponsors many special events and performances, with numerous Broadway stars and Hollywood celebrities hosting, performing, and/or attending. Theaters throughout the country frequently pledge all the proceeds from a regularly scheduled performance to the charity.

Today the Fund maintains offices in New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.