Arts Council England announces Covid-19 emergency support measures

Arts Council England (ACE) is making £160 million of emergency funding available for those organisations and individuals who will need it during the Covid-19 crisis, and has also changed the funding requirements for individuals and organisations currently in receipt of funding.

The funding – £90 million for National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs), £50 million for organisations outside of the National Portfolio, and £20 million to creative practitioners and cultural workers – has come from reallocation of National Lottery Project Grants, Developing Your Creative Practice and Development Funds for the 2020/21 period.

Organisations outside of the National Portfolio can apply for a maximum of £35k. To be eligible, organisations must have experience of delivering work that was funded (directly or indirectly) by bodies such as Arts Council England, National Lottery Heritage Fund, National Lottery Community Fund, local authorities, universities, public sector bodies, trusts and foundations, libraries, etc. Your organisation needs to have been part of the delivery of publicly funded work, even if they didn’t directly apply for the funding themselves. There’s more information here.

Artists, creative practitioners and freelancers can apply for grants of up to £2.5k. Eligible artforms and disciplines are: music; theatre; dance; visual arts; literature; combined arts; museums practice; and libraries (activity that helps deliver the Universal Library Offers). The work includes: choreographers, writers, translators, producers, editors, freelance educators in the disciplines and artforms supported, composers, directors, designers, artists, craft makers and curators. There’s more information here.

Both funding streams comprise two rounds. You can apply to only one. If you apply to the first round you will not be able to apply to the second round, even if ACE is unable to offer you a grant in the first round. However, if you start an application for round one but don’t submit it, you will be able to access it when the portal opens for round two. You will then be able to submit it in round two.

Round One: opens 9 April 2020, deadline for submissions 16 April 2020

Round Two: opens 16 April 2020, deadline for submissions 30 April 2020

If you haven’t already registered for Grantium, ACE’s funding portal, please do this as soon as possible – you must have an individual applicant profile registered in your legal name to make an application. Here’s the Grantium link, with full guidance.

We know that this is a challenging and confusing time for many, so the Exeter Culture team is here to help you with any questions you may have about the process. You can get in touch via director@exeterculture.com and hello@exeterculture.com.

Dom Jinks, Director, Exeter Culture

Belinda Dillon, Officer, Exeter Culture