UK Government Provides Relief Funding For Arts Freelancers

The UK government has announced emergency relief funding to help the Arts and culture industries cope with the influx of Omicron. Following a difficult Christmas that has seen Covid-caused closures across the West End, pantomimes, gigs and shows, British artists and entertainment workers have faced another difficult winter holiday season.

The government help and funding – what does it mean?

In England, £30 million will be added to the Culture Recovery Fund for arts organisations and £1.5 million to a hardship fund for creative freelancers. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive extra funding to the devolved administrations.

This is an important and very welcome contribution that has been aided by supporters of the Public Campaign for the Arts, who asked the Culture Secretary to deliver an emergency relief fund.

However, there is still more that needs to be done to ensure that UK culture is protected. The Chancellor has increased the Culture Recovery Fund by just 1.5% at a time when some theatres are losing as much as 40% of their annual incomes. The Music Venue Trust is warning that grassroots venues are “on the brink of the collapse”. Events and contracts are being cancelled whilst many people still cannot access the financial support they need.

The Public Campaign for the Arts is working to ensure that UK culture is protected through this very challenging winter, and is urging supporters to get involved by signing and sharing their petition.

Several UK organisations have been working in a similar vein, with the Theatre Artists Fund raising £2 million with a campaign supported by Arts Council England, Gatsby Charitable Foundation, the Backstage Trust, and led by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

The Theatre Artists Fund

The Theatre Artists Fund has been set up to provide emergency support for theatre workers and freelancers across the UK. It is for theatre professionals who are in need of urgent and critical financial support due to the devastating impact of Covid-19 on the theatre sector.

Our ambition for the fund is to provide short-term relief to hundreds of theatre workers and freelancers across the UK, and particularly those from underrepresented groups disproportionately affected by the crisis. Please refer to our website for more information.

If eligible, you can be considered for an emergency grant of £1,000.

Please note: Being a previous recipient does not guarantee that you will be successful as all applications will be assessed on the basis of hardship and the information you supply.

Applications are now open until 12noon on Monday 10th January 2022. We will not consider applications submitted after the deadline.

Access requirements
If you have access requirements and this form is difficult for you to understand or complete, then get in touch at theatreartistsfund@soltukt.co.uk so we can discuss a different format, or some appropriate support to enable you to apply. Please include a phone number if you would like a call back.

Eligibility criteria for D/deaf and/or Disabled applicants
We will require you to have worked a minimum of 5 weeks as a self-employed theatre professional to be considered for a grant. Please fill in the application form as instructed and list any eligible work in the appropriate section.

Once this round of applications has closed, we will aim to inform you (via email) of the outcome of your application in approximately 4 weeks after the closing date. If successful, we will be in touch via email to request your bank details so that we can make a direct payment into your bank account. Please check your junk email folders.

Mental health and well-being
We understand that people are facing a very difficult time and may need more then just financial support. Please visit the UK Theatre’s dedicated web-page about well-being here which includes a range of resources and helplines.

To view our Privacy Policy, please click here.

Apply for the Theatre Artists Fund

The Theatre Artists Fund was set up by director Sam Mendes back in the summer of 2020, with the charity raising over £7.8 million and allocated around 8,200 grants to date.

Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair of Arts Council England explained:

“The advance of the Omicron variant means that the cultural sector is once again dealing with further adversity. We thank the government for its unprecedented support for our creative and cultural organisations during these difficult and uncertain times.

We are pleased to have been able to make £650,000 immediately available to the Theatre Artists Fund to support freelancers, and are grateful to the theatre community for the incredible generosity they have shown with their contribution to the fund. We will continue to deliver funds on behalf of government to help protect the livelihoods of the many individuals and organisations that keep culture alive across the country.”

In the music industry, the UK government has been criticised for not supporting music venues, with the original £30 million cited as not being enough to provide employment or adequate relief.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said:

“Christmas is a very important time of year for so many of our brilliant arts and culture organisations who have now found themselves impacted by the Omicron variant. It is absolutely right that we support them through this challenging time which is why we’ve doubled the emergency funding available from the Culture Recovery Fund and allowed more time for organisations to come forward.”

It has also been announced that the UK government will provide £1.5 million for freelancers affected, with the Scottish government promising an impressive £8 million to freelancers.

If you can, please also consider a donation to your local arts and cultural organisations via the Arts Map, or to organisations such as Help Musicians and the Theatre Artists Fund who will be sending support directly to creative freelancers over the coming weeks.

Also by Michelle Sciarrotta: