1,385 cultural and creative organisations across the country are receiving urgently needed support. £257 million of investment has been announced today as part of the very first round of the Culture Recovery Fund grants programme being administered by Arts Council England. Further rounds of funding in the cultural and heritage sector are due to be announced over the coming weeks.
Nottingham Playhouse has been awarded £789,011 as part of the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) to help face the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and to ensure they have a sustainable future, the Culture Secretary has announced today.
Stephanie Sirr, Chief Executive of Nottingham Playhouse said “We are extremely thankful to have been awarded what we requested from the Culture Recovery Fund which will see the Playhouse through to March 2021. It means we face the future with a great deal more confidence. We would like to thank everybody for their support of the Playhouse at this critical time.”
Chris Stafford and Nikolai Foster from the Curve Leicester said, ““COVID continues to have a devastating impact on our industry and we are indebted to Arts Council England and DCMS for the Culture Recovery grant which will help secure a future for Curve. Curve would not have survived this period of closure without the funding grants from Arts Council England and Leicester City Council, along with the support from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). As the CJRS comes to an end, this crucial investment in our theatre will enable us to protect jobs, forge plans to reopen and employ 100s of freelancers.
We will shortly announce our reopening plans, and although socially distanced performances are not sustainable in the long-term, our theatre plays a vital role in the life of our city and on our local economy; this investment will enable us to bring our building - and Leicester’s Cultural Quarter -back to life as we wait for news on when we can expect to reopen at Stage 5 of the Theatre roadmap.”
Jo Hemmant and Yamin Choudhury from the Hackney Empire said, “Hackney Empire is very grateful to Arts Council England and The DCMS to have received this funding, and thereby have the opportunity to continue to do our best to support our community, our audiences, our young people and ALL of the people that make arts and culture happen. The challenges of the future remain, in many ways, unknown. We feel it is our responsibility as a sector, now more than ever, to ensure that we are always learning, always improving and always working harder to represent and reach out to the unheard and the unengaged. With this funding we must guarantee that the transformative power of the arts can be experienced by the many; to share, to entertain, to inform and to educate.”
The Park Theatre in London has received the Cultural Recovery Grant of £250,000 from the government.
Artistic Director Jez Bond said, “The very essence of theatre is gathering people together in the same room for a live, shared experience – and the economics of venues at our scale, mean that it’s not financially viable to produce shows with social distancing in place. This money, however, will enable us to prepare our building so it’s ‘Covid-secure’, and subsidise us to present smaller scale work over the next few months before we can reopen fully. It also allows us to offer the space for the development of diverse, new work – enabling us in turn to support freelance practitioners who – in the majority of cases – have tragically slipped through the net in terms any support packages. We thank the Arts Council and the Government for this grant and for recognising the importance of the role we play in our community."
Artistic Director of the Hope Theatre, Kennedy Bloomer, said, “We’re incredibly grateful and immensely overjoyed to be receiving the funding. The Hope Theatre will be able to continue as a venue and create opportunities for artists and we couldn’t be more thrilled.”
Grimm & Co, the Yorkshire children’s writing charity based in Rotherham, has secured £86,000 from the Arts Council England’s Cultural Recovery Fund to secure operational programme delivery through to spring 2021.
"This year has been a challenging year for all of us, especially for those working in the hospitality or arts sector. Grimm & Co, as an arts charity, has suffered greatly from reduced funds, oscillating plans to react and respond, whilst continuing to deliver provision to the communities of Yorkshire. Today's news will mean we can focus on what we do best and support the children and young people we work with." Chair of Trustees, Sarah Dunwell.
