Berlin’s club community launches the Nightlife Emergency Fund

News

Members of Berlin’s club community have launched the Nightlife Emergency Fund.

Following the global coronavirus pandemic, the Nightlife Emergency Fund and co-organisers, which includes members of aequa, Berlin Strippers’ Collective, DOGMA, Host Aware, Lecken, POLY. Artists, and Room 4 Resistance, are aiming to provide emergency financial aid to at-risk nightlife workers in Berlin.

Among the at-risk communities listed are sex workers, Non-EU migrants, BIPOC, womxn, queer, trans and non-binary folks, as well as immunocompromised people, and the Nightlife Emergency Fund will look to raise over €100,000 to support them through the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The funds are designated to cover urgent living costs, including food, rent and household-related bills, health insurance, and medical expenses.

“Many people in Berlin’s nightlife and dance music communities already live in extreme precarity,” Nightlife Emergency Fund explain. “The most vulnerable people, whose vibrancy, labour and creativity make up queer Berlin nightlife, may never be able to access government aid due to legal status, language barrier or the violence of state institutions.

For them, it is already a struggle to pay rent, keep up with insurance payments, and cover basic expenses. With the widespread cancellation of nightlife and dance music events, closure of venues, and the general economic fallout of social distancing, a lot of our friends, colleagues, and fellow ravers are in danger of slipping further into poverty.

Given this unprecedented situation, we urgently call on those passionate about nightlife with steady incomes or who are financially secure to join us in supporting those in need. In doing so, we share our support systems, inviting others under our umbrella of security as we all brace ourselves for this storm.”

You can read more about the Nightlife Emergency Fund, and donate to the organisation, who have already raised over €15,000, here.

Last week, Berlin collective Room 4 Resistance shared an informative document to help people navigating coronavirus. The party starting group, which is focused on community-building and the creation of safer spaces, compiled information on a Google Doc, which includes signposts for services and organisations offering support.