Further grants are available for England’s cultural organisations, across all sectors, that were previously solvent but now find themselves financially at-risk because of the impacts of coronavirus restrictions.
The Culture Recovery Fund: Emergency Resource Support programme has been established to provide emergency funding for culturally significant organisations in England. Those which were financially sustainable before coronavirus (COVID-19) but are now at imminent risk of failure, having exhausted all other options for increasing their resilience, are being supported.
Through the programme, Arts Council England will offer funding to meet shortfalls between applicants’ operating costs and income up to a point where they can demonstrate a return to financial viability, but no later than 31 March 2022.
From an overall budget of £23 million, grants of between £25,000 and £3 million are available. (For profit-making commercial organisations, the maximum is £1 million.)
The grants can support a range of measures, including staff salaries and fixed/operational costs, projects that are essential to continued operations, COVID-related debt, one-off costs arising from organisational development, and one-off building/capital expenditure.
Applications are open to cultural organisations in England that are properly constituted with a governing document. They must be able to demonstrate, via cashflow forecast, they are at risk of ceasing to trade viably within 12 weeks of the point of application. 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 (CICs) (either limited by shares or guarantee) 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 governed by the Partnership Act 1890 or the Limited Partnerships Act 1907.
- 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 that run or maintain cultural services.
For this programme, the Arts Council defines ‘cultural’ as sitting within the remit of Arts Council England. Its supported artforms or disciplines are music, theatre, dance, combined arts, visual arts, museums, or literature. Comedy venues are also eligible for this fund.
Applicants must first complete a ‘Permission to Apply’ form by 11 January 2022. Where permission is granted, applicants will be invited to make a full application within five working days. The application portal will open for full applications on 29 November 2021 and close on 28 January 2022.
How To Apply
The Emergency Resource Support Round 2 is now live for organisations at imminent risk of failure. It will support them to return to financial stability.
This is a rolling programme and applications can be submitted between 29 November 2021 and 28 January 2022 (12:00 GMT) with decisions communicated within six weeks, where possible.
Applications are subject to permission to apply being granted, at which point applications must be made within five working days. Permission to apply requests will be accepted from 22 November 2021 (12:00 GMT). The latest a permission to apply request can be accepted is 11 January 2022 (12:00 GMT).
For more information, guidelines and FAQ documents, visit the Arts Council England website.
Addresses and contacts
For further information on how to obtain this grant locally, please contact the following:
- Emergency Resource Support Enquiries
Arts Council England
The Hive
49 Lever Street
Manchester
M1 1FN
Email: [email protected]