Artists Are Rallying to Donate Their Masks and Other Protective Gear to Hospitals Facing Shortages Around the US

As the country struggles with the coronavirus crisis, artists
and designers who work with plaster, wood, concrete, pigment, or
other dust-generating materials may find that they are sitting on a
treasure trove of vital resources: N95 respirator masks, gloves,
and other protective gear that is now in high-demand at hospitals
around the nation.

After hearing about the shortages in New York hospitals,
Brooklyn-based sculptor Tom Beale wondered how he
could get the box of N95 masks he had in his studio into the hands
of healthcare workers. He found that this was not as easy to do as
you might hope.

“It was surprisingly challenging to find an appropriate way to
make a donation, despite calls in the media and from government
officials for citizen donations,” Beale told Artnet News. “There is
a phone number and email address listed on the New York State
website for donations—I reached out there first and still, more
than 24 hours later, I haven’t gotten a reply.”

Then Beale spotted a post on Instagram from painter Tauba
Auerbach offering a link to an initiative specifically organizing
museums and artists to donate protective gear to hospitals slammed
by COVID-19. Dubbed “Masked
Crusaders,” the site invites donors to list their
equipment and then lets needy medical institutions lay claim to
it.

The Masked Crusaders project is operational in New York,
Chicago, and Philadelphia, but still needs managers in Los Angeles,
Washington, DC, and elsewhere, according to participants.

Just fifteen minutes after Beale posted his supply of face masks
and gloves to the site he received a text message from a midwife at
Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn.

“She said they were almost out of surgical masks and currently
have to wait hours for approval to receive an N95 mask,” he
said. “If a pregnant woman had symptoms of the virus, she would
have to wait hours before receiving an assessment while they waited
to get approval to use a mask. She said this had happened and would
continue to happen.”

By the time he arrived at the hospital, an employee told Beale
that workers were down to their last mask.

“I have also heard that there is a need for non-latex gloves,
which are also common in artists’ studios,” he said. “I am donating
a box of these tonight as well.”

In an Instagram message, Auerbach explained that idea for Masked
Crusaders originally came from artist Camille Henrot: “She brought
it up on a listserv we were both on and some folks like [artists] Jesse Hlebo and Shabd Alexander immediately started working (in
collaboration with some other folks I don’t know) on a way to
organize donations.”

According to the Masked Crusaders Google doc, Molly
Crabapple and Dora Budor are among the dozens of other artists who
have pledged or made donations. Institutions including the Whitney
Museum and the Museum of Art and Design are also contributing.
Auerbach says that the several N95 masks she had were claimed by
hospitals “within hours.”

“N95 masks are truly like gold to healthcare workers right now,”
Beale said. “They keep them from getting sick when in close contact
with infected patients, and they are rationing them and doing crazy
things like sanitizing them over the course of a week, which is not
protocol. If the healthcare workers get exposed, they have to go in
quarantine and the healthcare system is further weakened when it is
already stretched to the maximum.”

The post Artists Are Rallying to Donate Their Masks and
Other Protective Gear to Hospitals Facing Shortages Around the
US appeared first on artnet News.