Recovery Fund for Scotland’s Cultural Organisations

Published: 28 Feb 2022

Creative Scotland, today, publishes details of the Recovery Fund for Culture Organisations, part of a package of support from the Scottish Government for cultural recovery.

Over £15 million is available to support cultural organisations as they recover from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and as restrictions are lifted.

Cultural organisations can apply for 10% of their annual income up to a limit of £150,000.

Eligibility criteria and guidelines for applying to the Fund have been published today, Monday 28 February. The fund will open for applications at 2pm on Wednesday 2 March and close one week later at 2pm on Wednesday 9 March.

Culture Minister Neil Gray said: “This latest round of government funding for culture organisations, to be distributed by Creative Scotland, demonstrates our commitment to the sector as we recover from the pandemic.

“Cultural activity sustains our well-being as individuals and has an important role to play in reinvigorating our communities. Therefore, it is vital that we continue to support these organisations so they can continue to produce work of artistic excellence that excites and inspires us.”

Iain Munro, CEO, Creative Scotland said: “Many cultural organisations continue to be impacted by both current and previous interruptions in their activity as a result of the ongoing pandemic. This is on top of the pressure of rising energy and operating costs, and impacts of the climate emergency and global events.

“This welcome funding from the Scottish Government will help address these ongoing challenges being faced by cultural organisations, enabling them to stabilise and increase their activities for people and communities, and focus on the process of recovery.

“Our priority is the delivery of these funds as quickly as possible. While we know that this funding won’t be able to meet every challenge, it will help to stimulate activity and strengthen resilience as the impacts of the pandemic slowly recede.”

Background

Full details about the fund including eligibility criteria, can be found on the Recovery Fund for Culture Organisations page.

The total budget for this fund is expected to be at least £15 million. The final total is dependent on the position of other emergency funds still being concluded.

The Recovery Fund for Culture Organisations is one of a series of Scottish Government emergency funds for culture and creativity being administered through Creative Scotland.

This funding has been allocated, through recent rounds of funding, as follows:

• £25 million has been allocated to the Cancellation Fund for Cultural Organisations that closed for applications on Wednesday 2 February. Applicants will be informed of the the outcome in early March (20 working days). Any underspend on this fund will be allocated to the Recovery Fund for Culture Organisations.
• The £8 million Hardship Fund for Creative Freelancers offers one-off awards of between £500 and £2000 to creative freelancers working in the arts, screen and creative sectors who are experiencing immediate financial hardship due to the loss of income as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Cancellation Fund for Creative Freelancers closed on Monday 24 January. It received c.1,800 applications for support, requesting a total of c. £3 million. The underspend from this fund was added to the Hardship for Creative Freelancers Fund.
• The £2.5 million The Recovery Fund for Independent Cinemas aims to address the impacts and changes to the film exhibition sector caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Application deadline 4 March.
• £1.95 million has been allocated to major Edinburgh festivals, with £200,000 awarded to the EXPO scheme.  The remainder of up to £1.75 million will be made available to the Edinburgh Festivals in the form of a top-up to the Platforms for Creative Excellence Programme. The funding is available to festivals that are members of Festivals Edinburgh, subject to an application process.

Updates on all emergency funds are published regularly on the Creative Scotland website and publicised through media and social media communications.

More information about Covid-19 funding and resources can be accessed via FindBusinessSupport.gov.scot, and through Creative Scotland’s Resource Directory for COVID-19.

Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland distributing funding provided by the Scottish Government and The National Lottery. Further information at creativescotland.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Learn more about the value of art and creativity in Scotland and join in at www.ourcreativevoice.scot