Toronto Arts Council partnered with Toronto Arts Foundation, with assistance from the City of Toronto, to create the TOArtist COVID-19 Response Fund to provide immediate support to Toronto's artists in the wake of COVID-19. Toronto Arts Foundation launched a fundraising campaign to support the Fund, and Toronto Arts Council reviewed artist applications and distributed the money. 

The Fund was launched on March 26, 2020 and came to a close on May 12, 2020. 

100% of all donations to the Fund went directly to artists, including musicians, actors, writers, dancers, community and visual artists — all of whom faced potentially devastating financial strains due to loss of income from cancelled events and performances. Thanks to the hundreds of individual Canadians, foundations and corporate partners who stepped up in support of Toronto’s affected artists with a collective contribution of $386,347, adding to the Fund’s starting amount of $450,000, we provided $836,347 to 982 Toronto artists.