Arts Council England, who is distributing the funds, announced that the Capital Kickstart Fund will deliver £58.8 million in grants to 74 arts organisations of all sizes whose capital projects were impacted by the pandemic.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has also announced that the Repayable Finance programme will provide £165 million to 11 ‘nationally and internationally significant’ organisations.
Among the arts organisations in receipt of a Repayable Finance loan is the National Theatre, which has received £19.7 million. Joint chief executives of the National Theatre, Rufus Norris and Lisa Burger, said, ‘The National Theatre is incredibly grateful and relieved to secure this emergency loan from the government’s Culture Recovery Fund.
‘It is a vital lifeline that will form part of our recovery, helping to ensure that the National Theatre will be here for culture and here for the nation, now and in the future.’
Culture secretary Oliver Dowden said, ‘The £1 billion invested so far through the Culture Recovery Fund has protected tens of thousands of jobs at cultural organisations across the UK, with more support still to come through a second round of applications. Today we’re extending a huge helping hand to the crown jewels of UK culture - so that they can continue to inspire future generations all around the world.’
Also announced today is the £400 million available through the next round of the Culture Recovery Fund, helping organisations ‘look to the future’ through a combination of grants and repayable finance.
Recipients of the fund have begun expressing their gratitude on social media today using the #HereForCulture and #CultureRecoveryFund hashtags, with the New Vic Theatre tweeting: ‘We’re so grateful to have received funding, thanks to the government’s #CultureRecoveryFund, so that we can continue to be #HereForCulture!’
Following the first round of funding, it emerged that publicly thanking the government was a condition of receiving the funding.
Further information about the CRF can be found at www.artscouncil.org.uk