Vital support for the cultural sector

Last week we announced the first and second round of awards from the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund, which we are administering on their behalf.

At the Arts Council we feel lucky to have jobs at this time when many in our sector are facing loss of work.  So we see it as our duty to turn this programme around as quickly and simply as we can.  Our reward comes from witnessing the relief this money brings a sector full of people who need and deserve backing. In this awful pandemic year, cultural organisations have continued to find new and inventive ways to make life worth living and bring communities together and we want to help them make work and find a path to recovery.

I want to reiterate my heartfelt gratitude to our Secretary of State, Oliver Dowden, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, and the DCMS and HM Treasury officials for this vital investment. It will save thousands of locally and nationally treasured organisations – large and small, in cities, towns and villages across the country.

Who are we supporting with this annoucement?

In these rounds of CRF funding, we’ve been able to say yes to 1972 organisations with a total of £333 million awarded. It’s a really wide range too. As well as theatres, arts centres, dance companies, orchestras and other organisations you might traditionally associate with the Arts Council, we’ve supported entertainment venues such as Caddies Comedy Club in Southend-on-Sea, the Hackney Empire in London and the Globe in Newcastle, nightclubs and festivals like Ministry of Sound and Lost Village, and independent museums such as the Yorkshire Air Museum, in round one. In round two, announced on Saturday 16/10, The Comedy Store, Paraorchestra, National Centre for Circus Arts and Manchester’s Night and Day all received support.

Support for individuals

We know this is an extremely difficult time for many freelancers and we heartily regret we can’t offer help to everyone, but we will do all we can with our resources to support individual creative practitioners.

In July, we reopened National Lottery Project Grants, redesigning elements of the programme to focus on individuals. We have removed the requirement for 10% match funding, for example, and we intend for at least 50% of awards under £15,000 to go to individual applicants. We’ve also added £18million to the programme’s budget which can be used by our National Portfolio Organisations as long as they can demonstrate they are maximising employment opportunities for individual artists, creatives and other freelancers.

Our flagship funding programme for individuals, Developing Your Creative Practice, will also reopen on Thursday 15 October, with a significantly increased budget of £18 million between now and October 2021, up from the previous level of £3.6 million. It will be open to a wider group of applicants than in previous rounds, and we will prioritise those who are looking to develop new skills and ways of working to adapt to the post-Covid world.

I am confident too that the investment that comes from the Culture Recovery Fund will help. For some this money will help them start to put on productions, shows and exhibitions, albeit adapted to the Covid-19 situation. This in turn will help generate work to keep our freelance economy going.

In describing how we can help, I do not want to ignore the reality that some organisations will go out of business, and some people will lose their jobs. Each loss is terrible for an individual or a community, and I deeply sympathise with every person affected.  I have been impressed by the solidarity I have seen, and the collective action within the sector to draw attention to the freelancer’s plight.  We will keep listening to you, talking to you and we are open to any good ideas that we can provide support for, or offer our advocacy in getting off the ground. 

Looking ahead

So what will the Arts Council be doing for the rest of the year to help our sector?  

Firstly we will continue to administer the coming rounds of the CRF.  There are millions more pounds coming in the next few weeks. We have grants between £1-3 million as well as loans and a Capital Kickstart Fund.  We will announce them all across October and November.  They will help keep organisations afloat for the rest of the financial year.

Secondly, we are deep in conversation with government about what the sector needs beyond that. What we can do depends in part on the outcome of this Autumn’s spending review.  We must all work together to persuade the Treasury of the huge value culture brings to our communities and how it stimulates growth in our wider creative industries.  

Thirdly, we are now working on a practical plan to help us deliver our new Ten Year Strategy Let’s Create – ensuring that we support the highest quality cultural work while also expanding creative opportunities for everyone.  A vital part of that is the work we are doing to promote inclusion in the sector.  We will publish this plan early next year.

Sadly, I don’t think there is going to be a rapid end point to this crisis and part of making Let’s Create real will involve dealing with the reality of Covid-19, but I know that the creative individuals and organisations with whom we work will respond to the new needs that creates in communities. We will do everything we can to support a sector that is dynamic and diverse enough to bring the joy of culture and creativity to everyone, everywhere.

Note: this blog was updated 19/10/2020 to include details of the Culture Recovery Fund: Grants round 2 announcements.