A further £75m of the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) has been awarded in England. 35 organisations that applied for sums of between £1m and £3m will receive grants to help them survive through to March 2021. No information has been shared about how many applicants were unsuccessful.
The seven awards for the maximum £3m went mainly to theatres: Birmingham Hippodrome, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Norwich Theatre, The Mayflower and the Old Vic. English National Ballet and Shakespeare Birthplace Trust will also receive the highest level of grant. Few commercial companies were successful at this level of funding, with the exceptions including event technology companies Adlib Audio and Lights Control Rigging.
More than £500m has now been allocated from England’s Culture Recovery Fund to nearly 2,500 cultural organisations and businesses that operate in related industries.
Major cultural organisations notable by their absence from the list of CRF grant recipients so far include several of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio Organisations, such as the Royal Opera House, English National Opera and the National Theatre, and the major commercial theatre groups such as Ambassador Theatre Group and LW Theatres.
Cultural organisations needing more than £3m have been ineligible for CRF grants and have had to apply for Repayable Finance. £270m has been made available for long-term loans of over £3m, which are open to both charitable and commercial organisations. These awards are yet to be announced.