Final £300m from Culture Recovery Fund released

Oliver Dowden has announced that the final £300 million of the government’s £2 billion Culture Recovery Fund will support organisations in need of urgent funding.

The Culture Secretary said that 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 government says that the first round of the Culture Recovery Fund has 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 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 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.

Dowden said: “Our record breaking Culture Recovery Fund has already helped thousands of organisations across the country to survive and protected hundreds of thousands of jobs. Now, as we look forward to full reopening, this funding shows our commitment to stand behind culture and heritage all the way through the pandemic. This round of funding will provide a further boost to help organisations build back better and ensure we can support more of those in need - safeguarding our precious culture and heritage, and the jobs this supports.”