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Culture Recovery Fund: Repayable Finance Round Two

Key Information

Total fund

£100 million

Grant range

Minimum of £1 million - there is no upper limit (but applicants should keep the maximum budget available in mind, £100 million)

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Applicant guidance

You can download the guidance for applicants below, where you can find all of the information you need including the eligibility criteria, the application process and the questions and character counts in the application form.

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About the programme

What is this programme for? 

This programme is part of the Government’s £1.57 billion package to protect the UK’s culture, heritage and cinema ecology from the economic impacts of Covid-19.

This investment is intended to support culturally significant organisations as they transition back to a viable and sustainable operating model during the 202½2 Financial Year.

Who is eligible for Repayable Finance?

Cultural organisations – charitable, not for profit, and commercial – operating within the arts, museums, heritage (including built and intangible heritage) sectors, including cinemas.

The kinds of organisations that are eligible to apply include:

  • private companies (either limited by shares or guarantee) registered at Companies House
  • community interest companies (either limited by shares or guarantee) (CICs) registered with the CIC regulator
  • charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs) registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales
  • charitable companies or charitable trusts registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales
  • limited liability partnerships registered at Companies House
  • partnerships established under a partnership deed/ agreement under the Partnership Act 1890
  • community benefit and co-operative societies registered with the Financial Conduct Authority
  • Royal Charter bodies
  • statutory bodies and other public bodies including Universities and museums who run or maintain cultural services

The applicant organisation must be based in England and have been properly constituted, and registered with the relevant regulatory body where applicable, on or before 30 September 2017.

Organisations who have previously been awarded a Culture Recovery Fund loan are not eligible to apply in this round however, organisations in receipt of a grant from previous rounds of the Culture Recovery Fund are eligible to apply for a loan through this programme.

If you plan to apply to another Culture Recovery Fund programme run by Arts Council or another body in this round, you cannot make an application to this fund.

What is the budget for this fund?

The budget for this round is up to £100 million – it comes directly from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and is part of their Culture Recovery Fund, the £1.57 billion support package they announced to protect the UK’s culture and heritage sectors from the economic impacts of Covid-19.

How much can I apply for? 

The minimum amount that can be applied for is £1 million.

There is no upper limit for this fund for applicants, however you should keep in mind that the maximum budget available for the programme is £100 million.

What if I need less than £1 million? 

Another element of the support available to cultural organisations is Culture Recovery Fund: Grants. On 11 December, Government announced a further round of Culture Recovery Fund investment as part of its £1.57 billion support package for arts, culture and heritage in the UK.

When can I apply for the Culture Recovery Fund: Repayable Finance Round Two programme? 

The online application form will open on Grantium at 3pm on Tuesday 15 December 2020.

Applications must be submitted by 12pm (midday) on Thursday 7 January 2021

Can I use a third party bid writer to write my application?

You are within your right to use a third party to fill out your application on your behalf, however everything you need to know to make a successful application, from our application process to the fund criteria, are already clearly explained on our website here.

If I am successful, when would I receive the financing? 

We will aim to notify all applicants of the stage one assessment of their application around the end of January 2021.

Stage two assessments will take place throughout February 2021.

Any offer of investment will be conditional and subject to successful Repayable Finance Agreement negotiations.  Any legal commitments would need to be in place prior to the release of the loan.

What will the success rate be? 

In these unprecedented circumstances, we can’t pre-empt success rates as we do not know how many organisations will apply or for how much.

How are decisions being made?  

The Arts Council will administer assessment of applications against the criteria set out in the Guidance for applicants, with input from specialist financial advisors and other relevant arms-length bodies (British Film Institute, Historic England and National Lottery Heritage Fund).

Final decisions on all loan applications will be made by the Culture Recovery Board.

Who sits on the Culture Recovery Board?  

Members of the Culture Recovery Board have been appointed by DCMS, it is chaired by Sir Damon Buffini.  

The full list of board members on the Culture Recovery Board is as follows: 

  • Independent Chair – Sir Damon Buffini  
  • Commissioner for Cultural Recovery and Renewal – Neil Mendoza
  • Arts Council England – Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair of Arts Council England 
  • Historic England – Sir Laurie Magnus, Chair of Historic England 
  • National Lottery Heritage Fund – Rene Olivieri, Chair of National Lottery Heritage Fund  
  • British Film Institute – Jay Hunt, British Film Institute Governor (Board Member)
  • DCMS – Emma Squire, Director for Arts, Heritage and Tourism

Independent Board Members: 

  • Claire Whitaker 
  • Baroness Kate Fall 
  • Hemant Patel 
  • Samir Shah
  • Carol Lake
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