The Brave of Heart Fund® (the Fund) and ARTHOUSE.NYC today present The Hero Art Project, an exhibit of 29 rotating portraits of healthcare workers who have died while fighting COVID-19. The public art installation will appear in five windows on the ground floor at the south east corner of the iconic New York Life Building located on Madison Avenue at east 26th Street from September 27th to October 25th, 2021. Click below for the NY-1 segment
The Hero Art Project will honor healthcare workers and volunteers who gave their lives saving the lives of others. The Hero Art Project pairs members of ARTHOUSE.NYC’s artistic community with family members of healthcare workers to create portraits of these heroes to celebrate their lives, sacrifices and legacies. Each family is able to select the artist and art style that they feel most represents the spirit of their loved one. Many of the portraits in the exhibit feature families who have also received a charitable grant from the Fund.
“The Hero Art Project helps the public learn more about the courageous and selfless frontline healthcare workers who have passed away from COVID-19,” said Heather Nesle, President of the New York Life Foundation. “We want people to be able to see the faces of those individuals who passed, to commemorate them, and honor the loved ones they left behind. We are also committed to continuing to spread the word about the Brave of Heart Fund so all those families who have been impacted can get the financial assistance they deserve and we encourage all those families to apply.”
“We wanted to give back to the heroic communities that have been on the frontlines, hence The Hero Art Project was conceived, featuring artists from around the world,” said Susannah Perlman, ARTHOUSE.NYC curator. “This public tribute is especially poignant as many of the families were not allowed to have public funerals and the physical comfort of many of their loved ones during the lockdown. It is our hope that the art will convey the human lives and stories behind the statistics.”
The Brave of Heart Fund, created by the foundations of New York Life and Cigna, provides charitable grants and emotional support services to surviving families of healthcare workers lost to COVID-19. Administered by E4E Relief, the Fund has already granted $20 million to nearly 600 families. While the loss of a loved one is immeasurable, the Fund hopes to ease the financial burden these families face by providing charitable grants up to $75,000. Eligibility is open to the families of doctors, nurses, technicians, cleaning staff and anyone else who worked in a medical facility or for a licensed medical provider and who passed away as a result of their workplace exposure to the virus. The Fund is accepting applications through December 31, 2021.
