You look like you need a HUG … one you can take to the bank.

Let’s START something together. We’ll bring the money. You bring the passion.

For the next several months, we are altering our HUG (Helpful Unfettered Gift) program to give out $100 micro-grants to creative projects that can be completed by June 1 and can be shared with the public digitally.

Our goal is to help lift our city’s spirit by giving as many creatives our financial and promotional support as possible, while helping to set as many creative projects in motion as possible in the Queen City. We hope to grant 10-20 HUGs a month.

Here are a few important things to know:

• HUGs are open to nonprofit, for-profit or personal projects, as long as they can be experienced by the general public online or in a public space where safe social distancing works.
• HUGs are NOT just for professional creatives because everyone is creative.
• HUGs absolutely are available to students as well as adults.
• The application is simple. You can complete it in 10 minutes or less. No tax paperwork required.
• A wide array of creative projects can be considered for a HUG:
  • Visual Arts
  • Performing Arts & Music
  • Community Building
  • Creative Community Engagement & Community Service
  • Podcasts, Online Meet-Ups and Media
  • Craft and Fashion
  • Writing, Poetry & Spoken Word

Why we can do this?

It’s simple — we have amazing donors. Thanks to our HUG sponsors — T.Reid & Company, OrthoCarolina, Savvy & Company Real Estate, Plain Language Group and Google Fiber — along with individual donors, we have money earmarked for HUGs. Over the past three years, we’ve funded more than 170 creative projects and given out over $40,000 in micro-grants. Today, the need is greater than ever before.

Creatives NEED to create. Like food, it feeds their souls. As a city, we need to see new work — beautiful, inspiring, challenging, invigorating work — sprout up around us. It will help us get through this. We’ll be sharing the stories of what happens on our social feeds, e-Newsletter and on www.BiscuitCLT.com

What’s next?

We’ve thrown down the gauntlet. It’s your turn. You have four choices:

A) Apply for a HUG.
B) Donate to a HUG.
C) Tell lots of people about HUGs.
D) All of the above.

Please Note: Doing nothing with the information you now have is NOT one of the available options.

We can’t wait to see what you come up with. NOW is the time to show Charlotte how strong our creative community is.

All good things,

Tim Miner & Matt Olin
Charlotte Is Creative