We are delighted to announce that we have been successful in the second round of Arts Council Wales recovery fund. The funds will help us continue our work and enable us to host a programme up to the end of September 2021. As restrictions start to ease we will use the funds to pilot three live events along with a series of online events and workshops.
We have worked throughout the pandemic to provide their community with an inclusive and artistic programme helping combat loneliness and isolation enabling participants to continue to be creative, entertained and connected. Nevertheless SPAN along with many other arts organisation carry on the battle to continue to survive.
We are very grateful for the support from our volunteers and audiences during these difficult times. Stay tuned for further events via the Book section of our website.
The Fund’s aim is to help the arts sector in Wales to survive the Covid-19 crisis and to remain vibrant, financially viable and sustainable.
The Cultural Recovery Fund is a Welsh Government scheme for organisations and individual artists that have been significantly affected by the Covid19 pandemic. £53million was announced for the first round in August 2020 and a further £30million was made available for a second round in April 2021. Arts Council of Wales managed the element of the fund for eligible arts organisations.
Companies facing urgent financial difficulties could apply for a revenue grant from the Arts Council of Wales to pay for lost income as well as essential fixed costs such as rent and security, essential building work and any additional costs occurred by staff working from home.
127 organisations were successful in applying for the fund sharing grants with a total value of almost £8.8million. 94% of applicants were successful in their funding requests and it’s estimated that the Cultural Recovery Fund could help to protect at least 1,800 jobs across the arts in Wales.
Kathryn Lambert director of the organisation says “SPAN is grateful to be offered support from the Arts Council of Wales Cultural Recovery Fund 2. This crisis funding is a lifeline for Span Arts and will help us to continue to operate until the end of September, crucially, it will help to support some of our fixed business costs, key personnel and help pay for artist fees and costs associated with Covid-related reopening in order to help us to stay afloat during a period of acute financial pressure due to COVID-19. We thank the Welsh Government and the Arts Council of Wales very much for this support.”
