Third round of Culture Recovery Fund opens

The final £300 million of the government’s £2 billion rescue package has opened. Members may find the information we published around round two helpful. The Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) package has so far provided £1.2 billion in funding.

This new package is made up of several strands, the first two of which share a budget of over £218 million and are the most relevant to FAC members:

• an emergency fund for organisations who are at risk of ceasing to trade viably within 12 weeks and have not been supported by the CRF (unless by exception previous recipients require emergency support which they are aware may apply to some festivals);

• a continuity fund offering support for those who have been previous recipients but now may be struggling to survive/reopen;

• a £35 million heritage stimulus fund to support essential capital projects; and

• £20 million for the Cultural Asset Fund

Criteria:

• Stakeholders will be eligible so long as they meet the criteria, which are focussed on their financials and cultural significance - as in previous rounds

• The emergency fund is specifically focused on supporting those organisations (such as many of your stakeholders) that are at risk of ceasing to trade viably within 12 weeks.

• Steps are being taken to ensure that the Emergency Fund is set-up quickly. Once successful applicants accept their offer and provide bank details, payments take 10-15 working days to process.

Applications are due to open for some parts of this funding shortly and it is hoped that thousands of arts, heritage, cultural and creative organisations will be supported to secure their future, building on the success of the fund so far.

The CRF has already provided more than £1.2 billion to more than 5,000 organisations in England, with further support going to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as to the UK’s national museums and galleries. The first round of the Culture Recovery Fund is estimated to have supported 75,000 jobs and it is estimated that the second round has supported 52,000 full time jobs and almost 100,000 freelancers.

The third and final round of funding will now provide further support as the cultural, heritage and creative sectors move towards reopening at full capacity, underlining the government’s commitment to help them build back better as life returns to normal.

Almost £220 million will be available for both new organisations who are at imminent risk of failure and existing recipients of CRF grants. Funding will be available to boost those who have received support already whilst ensuring more culturally significant organisations do not fail as a result of the pandemic, protecting theatres, museums, galleries, independent cinemas and organisations around the country for future generations and safeguarding hundreds of thousands of creative jobs in the supply chain.

The aim of the funding is to help organisations prepare to reopen and for a return to full capacity, while building a sustainable financial future by providing much needed financial support to protect organisations through to the end of the year.

More than £1.2 billion of the Culture Recovery Fund has gone to over 5,000 individual organisations and sites, with 76% of organisations outside of London.