Giorno Poetry Systems (GPS), the New York-based nonprofit founded in 1965 by artist John Giorno, has announced the twelve inaugural recipients of its new need-based grant, the Treat a Stranger grants. Each recipient receives an unrestricted grant of $4,545 to cover daily expenses like food, housing, health care, and emergencies. The grants are a relaunch of GPS's AIDS Treatment Project grants from 1984–1994, and are named after Giorno's mantra, “Treat a complete stranger with the same compassion you would treat a lover or a good friend.” Winners are selected by a rotating anonymous jury of LGBTQIA+ artists, poets, and musicians through a multi-meeting nomination and voting process.
The Treat a Stranger grant matters because it revives a historic model of artist-to-artist support rooted in the AIDS crisis, adapting it to address the ongoing financial pressures faced by artists today, particularly in New York City. By providing unrestricted cash grants determined by peers rather than institutions, the program centers the needs of artists and reinforces GPS's founding ethos of artists showing up for one another. This initiative highlights the growing trend of need-based, no-strings-attached funding in the arts, directly tackling the rising cost of living that threatens artistic production.