Culture Recovery Fund: Grants Second Round

In the guidance you can find all of the information you need including the eligibility criteria, the application process and the questions and character counts in the application form.

What is this funding for? 

This grants programme is part of the Government’s £1.57 billion package to protect the UK’s culture and heritage sectors from the economic impacts of Covid-19.

The aim of this Culture Recovery Fund: Grants programme is to support cultural organisations as they transition back to a viable and sustainable operating model during April-June 2021. The criteria for the Culture Recovery Fund were designed by DCMS, with the Arts Council administering, awarding and monitoring it on their behalf.

Are the criteria and application process the same as the first Culture Recovery Fund: Grants programme?

This programme has separate aims and different priorities from the first rounds of Culture Recovery Fund: Grants. Because of this, the application process, questions and criteria are different. You should therefore read the guidance and FAQs carefully before completing the application form.

What is the budget for this fund?

The budget for Culture Recovery Fund: Grants second round delivered by the Arts Council is up to £250 million – it comes directly from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and is part of the £1.57 billion package they announced to protect the UK’s culture and heritage sectors from the economic impacts of Covid-19. 

When can I apply for the Culture Recovery Fund: Grants programme? 

The portal will open for applications at 12pm (midday) on Wednesday 6 January 2021 and close at 12pm (midday) on Tuesday 26 January 2021. 

Please ensure that you have an applicant profile registered and validated on the system by 21 January. If you do not have a profile validated by this point, it may not be possible to make an application.

What will the success rate be? 

In these unprecedented circumstances, we can’t estimate success rates as we do not know how many organisations will apply.  We believe that there will be considerable demand for this funding and you should therefore only apply if you absolutely need additional support and you can’t get it elsewhere.

How are decisions being made?  

Decisions are made by Arts Council England. We will make our decision based on the information you provide in your application. In exceptional circumstances, we may also take into account any further information that we may have requested. 

Where appropriate, we may also ask National Lottery Heritage Fund and the BFI to comment on your application.

Applications for over £1m (cumulatively across the two rounds of the Culture Recovery Fund: Grants programme) will be shared with the Culture Recovery Board appointed by DCMS for their comment.

Who sits on the Culture Recovery Board?  

Members of the Culture Recovery Board have been appointed by DCMS, it is chaired by Sir Damon Buffini.  

The full list of board members on the Culture Recovery Board is as follows: 

Independent Chair Sir Damon Buffini

Commissioner for Cultural Recovery and Renewal Neil Mendoza

Arts Council England Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair of Arts Council England

Historic England Sir Laurie Magnus, Chair of Historic England

National Lottery Heritage Fund Rene Olivieri, Chair of NLHF

British Film Institute Jay Hunt, BFI Governor (Board Member)

JP Morgan Carol Lake, Managing Director, Corporate Responsibility

National Lottery Heritage Fund, René Olivieri, Interim Chair of The National Lottery Heritage Fund

DCMS Emma Squire, Director for Arts, Heritage and Tourism

Independent Board Members: 

• Claire Whitaker 
• Baroness Kate Fall 
• Hemant Patel 
• Samir Shah