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More than 1,300 arts organizations in England, including Liverpool’s Cavern Club, Young Vic and Yorkshire Sculpture Park, will receive a share of the £ 257 million government money to help them survive the next six months.
Theaters, museums, orchestras and music venues were finally informed on Monday what they will receive from the government’s £ 1.57 billion cultural recovery fund.
The £ 257 million lifeline is for organizations that applied for less than £ 1 million. It will allow, the ministers said, the proceedings to be restarted and allow venues to plan the reopening.
For example, the Finborough Theater in London will receive £ 59,574 to help “maintain internal skills to be able to reopen successfully in the future”. It’s a small place, a room above a pub in Earl’s Court, but it’s always weighed down with alumni including Rachel Weisz, Kathy Burke, and Rory Bremner.
It helped launch the career of playwright James Graham who, over the summer, passionately campaigned on the need for a cultural rescue package.
Graham, who wrote This House, Quiz and Brexit: the Uncivil War, said: “It is a great relief to see these important funds now reaching organizations that want to start doing the work for their communities to enjoy.
“It’s also important that these theaters span the country, be big and small, and include places like Finborough, which is where I cut my teeth and I wouldn’t be a playwright or screenwriter without them.”
Other recipients include:
• The Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which receives £ 740,000 to help it broadcast biweekly concerts live from Bridgewater Hall.
• The Cavern club, one of Liverpool’s top tourist attractions always linked to the Beatles, receives £ 525,000 to fund the recording of live performances by local musicians which will then be streamed online.
• The Young Vic in London receives £ 961,455 to help it partially reopen between October and March, as well as to remotely operate its directors program and outreach work.
• Theater by the Lake in Keswick, Cumbria, receives £ 878,492 to help cover losses incurred as a result of the coronavirus.
• The Birmingham Royal Ballet, led by Carlos Acosta, receives £ 500,000 to help offset losses from canceled performances and tours.
• Yorkshire Sculpture Park, near Wakefield, received £ 804,013 to help it adapt its buildings to the new regulations and continue to reopen safely.
• The Hackney Empire in East London receives £ 585,064 to help support “a new responsive programming model” and address rising costs due to the pandemic.
• Bristol Old Vic, the oldest continuous work theater in the English language where Olivia Colman and Daniel Day-Lewis began their careers, receives £ 610,466 to help transform its business model and support its creative workforce.
Other recipients include London’s Wigmore Hall, which receives £ 1 million to help sustain its future; the London Symphony Orchestra, with £ 846,000 to help a gradual return to large-scale performance; and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, with £ 748,000 to offer a short, physically detached program, all of which will be recorded and then broadcast.
The money is from the Treasury but distributed by Arts Council England. Sir Nicholas Serota, president of the latter, said: “The theaters, museums, galleries, dance companies and music venues bring joy to people and life to our cities, towns and villages.
“This is a difficult time for all of us, but this first round of funding from the Culture Recovery Fund will help support hundreds of cultural spaces and organizations that are loved and admired by local communities and the international public.”
The money goes directly to organizations rather than the vast army of freelancers that keep arts organizations going. Last week, hundreds of independent musicians performed outside Parliament to highlight the plight of independent artists. The government argues that reopening places creates jobs for these self-employed workers.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: “This funding is a vital boost to the theaters, music venues, museums and cultural organizations that make up the soul of our nation. It will protect these special places, save jobs and help the cultural sector to recover ”.
The arts announcement follows £ 103 million of ransom money for heritage organizations, announced last Friday.
Arts organizations that applied for between £ 1 million and £ 3 million are still eagerly awaiting news of their applications. Details of a £ 270 million loan fund, to be awarded to larger arts organizations, have yet to be announced.
