Culture Recovery Fund

(asked on 4th September 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he has taken to ensure that funding from the Culture Recovery Fund reaches self-employed workers in the arts sector.


Answered by
Caroline Dinenage Portrait
Caroline Dinenage
This question was answered on 10th September 2020

We recognise the crucial role that self-employed individuals play in making our arts and creative industries world-leading. The Secretary of State has announced a major £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. This funding will provide targeted support to organisations across a range of cultural and creative sectors. By preserving many arts and cultural institutions, the self-employed and freelance workers will benefit with increased employment opportunities as these organisations resume cultural activities.

To complement the funding for organisations made available by Government, Arts Council England have also announced £95m of additional support for individuals, including freelancers. This involves:

  • An additional £75m in project grants. These will be focused on applications that maximise employment opportunities and those from under-represented groups. Freelancers are eligible to apply directly. National Portfolio Organisations can also apply to create new work with bids that create employment opportunities prioritised.

  • A further round of the ACE programme ‘Discover Your Creative Practice’ will open in the autumn. This will make approximately £18m available for individuals looking to develop new creative skills that will help them to further develop their career.

  • ACE will also be adding £2m into relevant benevolent funds to support those less well supported by the programmes outlined above, including stage managers and technicians.

The government remains committed to supporting our prestigious and internationally renowned arts and cultural sector and is clear on the vital importance the Arts contribute to the well being of the nation at this time. We are committed to continuing to work with these sectors to understand the difficulties they face and help them access support through these challenging times and through recovery.

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