Third round of Culture Recovery Fund announced

A third round of the government’s Culture Recovery Fund is now open for museums, galleries and heritage organisations.

Arts Council England (ACE) has launched a new fund for organisations at imminent risk of failure to support them until the end of the year. Applications for this Culture Recovery Fund money open on 12 July and close on 30 September. Grants range from £25,000 to £3m.

“The Culture Recovery Fund has been a lifeline for the sector throughout the pandemic, and has saved hundreds of cultural organisations across the country from collapse,” said ACE chair Nicholas Serota. “Creativity and culture will be an essential part of our efforts to rebuild after the pandemic, and we’re extremely grateful for the Government’s continued support to help organisations reopen and play their part in the national recovery.”

The National Football Museum in Manchester is among the many museums to benefit from the first two rounds of the Culture Recovery Fund.

“The museum was delighted to receive funding from both rounds of the Culture Recovery Fund, an investment of over £755,000,” said Tim Desmond, the chief executive officer at the National Football Museum. “The funding provided a lifeline, supporting the museum to reopen and inspire audiences with stories of football.”

The National Lottery Heritage Fund has also announced that further Culture Recovery Fund support is available. Its latest round of funding is designed to provide continued support as the cultural and creative sectors move towards reopening at full capacity.

The third round of recovery funding will deliver grants across two strands: new applicants who are at imminent risk of failure due to the ongoing economic impact of Covid-19; and eligible organisations already in receipt of a Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage grant.

The first strand, Emergency Resource Support, is open to heritage organisations in England whose livelihoods are threatened by the ongoing impact of the pandemic. Grants between £10,000 to £1m are available. Expressions of interest for the Culture Recovery Fund: Emergency Resource Support are open until 30 September.

Ros Kerslake, the chief executive of the Heritage Fund, said: “After an extremely challenging year across the heritage sector, the impacts of which will be seen for some time, I am delighted that another round of the Culture Recovery Fund has been launched to safeguard and save heritage organisations in jeopardy due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”

In other funding news, Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) has announced a funding stream related to Glasgow hosting the Cop26 climate conference in November.

MGS has created the #COP26Conversations Fund in partnership with Historic Environment Scotland and Scottish Libraries Information Council. This fund will support museums, libraries, and historic environment organisations to engage with the conversations around climate issues emerging in communities across Scotland.

The fund will offer grants of up to £1,000 for museums, libraries and historic environment organisations to host community focused events and activities before and during Cop26. Applications close on 30 July.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for cultural and historic environment organisations to engage with their local area in a fun and creative way and we hope that this fund can reach many communities across Scotland,” said Rachael Rowley, the head of resources at MGS.

“Connecting with culture and our heritage offers an invaluable way of bringing empathy and understanding to the challenges we are all facing as a result of the human impacts of climate change and the opportunities we have as a sector to create positive change.”

Other funding currently available includes the Weston Loan Programme, which was launched by the Art Fund and Garfield Weston Foundation in 2017 and supports smaller museums to borrow works from national or major collections.

This sixth round of funding offers grants of £5,000 to £25,000 to cover up to 100% of the costs associated with securing and displaying a loan, from security reviews, insurance, transportation and conservation to installation and invigilation.