The Culture Recovery Fund for Independent Cinemas in England, administered by the BFI for the Government, as part of the UK Government’s cultural recovery package providing support for world-class cultural, arts and heritage institutions.
A second round of funding offering an additional £14 million through the Culture Recovery Fund is now open to independent cinemas in England whose businesses have been unavoidably interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and will continue to support them as they transition back to a viable and sustainable way of operating in the months ahead.
The deadline for applications to this second round of funding which is now open is midday on 1 February 2021. We aim to make awards at the end of March, ahead of the start of the funding period starting 1 April 2021.
The Second Round of the Fund is open to new applicants as well as those that received a grant in the first round. It will cover a range of costs from 1 April 2021 to 30 June 2021.
If your cinema is in urgent need of funds before 1 April 2021, as a matter of priority please contact us at audiences@bfi.org.uk.
About the Culture Recovery Fund
In order to help secure and maintain a healthy, resilient and world-class film exhibition sector for the future, we need to support independent cinemas through this unprecedented and challenging time. We also believe this is an important opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to a diverse and inclusive film culture – one which offers all audiences the opportunity to experience the full riches of on-screen storytelling. We want cinema to reflect our experiences and our lives as well as offering us different perspectives and opening up a world beyond our own. This is at its most powerful in the collective setting of a big screen cinema venue.
The Culture Recovery Fund for Independent Cinemas is part of the UK Government’s cultural recovery package providing £1.57 billion, the biggest ever single investment in this country’s cultural sectors. As part of this package, the £30m fund specifically for independent cinemas in England, administered by the BFI, opened in August 2020. Further awards from the fund to cinemas are still in progress and are being made.
The fund has already announced grants totalling £16 million to more than 200 independent cinemas across England, from Penrith to Penzance. Find out more.
The Second Round of the Culture Recovery Fund backed by an additional £14 million of funding was announced by the DCMS on 20 December 2020 and set to open in January.
For venues in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, please contact your Screen Agencies for further information: NI Screen, Screen Scotland and Ffilm Cyrmu Wales.
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