Cultural Recovery Funds 6 Aug 2020
The £1.57bn announced last month by Government to support culture and the creative industries has now been devolved to grant-giving bodies, including NLHF, Historic England and ACE. There will be a first round of £622m available now, with a remaining £258m to be shared across grant bodies in a second round later in the year.
ACE funds
In the current round, ACE will oversee £500m of support to arts and cultural institutions, including museums and performing arts venues but not libraries. Detail is as follows:
- Grants are available from £50k - £3m.
- A loan scheme is also available at 2% interest, with a four year payment holiday and 20 year term, which will be announced in full on 10th
- Organisations can apply for a grant or a loan, but not both – and sums over £3m are only available as loans, with no upper limit.
- ACE’s first funding round is open from 10th August with a deadline of 21st August, and the second round runs from 21st August – 4th It is anticipated that 75% of grants are likely to be given in round one.
NLHF and Historic England recovery grants
The NLHF and Historic England are administering a £92m Recovery Fund to distribute between them for heritage, offering individual grants of £10k - £3m. The funding must be spent by 31st March 2021 on either essential overheads, becoming more resilient in future or testing and consulting on activities to diversify income streams. Non-accredited museums are welcome to apply for these funds, as are conservators, contractors, specialists and suppliers. Applicants for up to £1m will know whether their bid has been successful by the end of September.
BFI will also be administering a £30m fund for the film industry. A Cultural Recovery Board chaired by Damon Buffini and including Chairs of ACE, HE, NLHF and BFI, Neil Mendoza and Emma Squire, and will make decisions on applications above £1m. Museums Journal, NLHF (Cultural Recovery Fund for Heritage) NLHF (detail), BFI, M + H
£54m in recovery grants for the Welsh cultural sector
The Welsh Government is distributing £54m to cultural organisations including museums and heritage sites, in partnership with the Arts Council of Wales. Full details of the distribution of these funds is being finalised, and a grant programme should open in mid-August. The MA recently gave evidence to the Senedd about the impact of Covid-19 on the museum sector in Wales, and has called for museums to receive a ‘strategic and equitable’ share. Nick Capaldi, Chief Executive of Arts Council of Wales said “with many arts organisations facing the imminent threat of insolvency, and freelancers struggling to see when they’ll secure their next paid work, these funds ease the immediate threat of a collapse in the creative sector.” Welsh Government, Arts Council of Wales, Museums Journal, Museums Journal
£4m Museums Resilience and Recovery Fund for Scottish museums
The Scottish Government has launched a £4m Museums Resilience and Recovery Fund to support the independent museum sector in recovering from Covid-19, especially around un-furloughing staff and reopening. Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said “sadly, many of these wonderful institutions are now at a critical juncture in making decisions about whether they can afford to reopen, looking at possible redundancies, cancelling events and putting off critical repairs. I am pleased to announce this much needed support for the sector to help them get through the rest of the financial year.” MGS will be administering the fund and hopes to launch it as soon as possible. Scottish Government, MGS, Museums Journal