Inverclyde Now Logo CORONAVIRUS — Emergency Funding Approved For Greenock Arts Venue

6 August, 2020 | Local

BEACON Arts Centre, Greenock has received £114,000 from the Scottish Government’s Performing Arts Venues Relief Fund.

The fund, which supports venues that cannot yet re-open because of the Covid-19 pandemic, aims to:

— Remove the threat of insolvency prior to the end of March 2021 to enable the development and delivery of activity as soon as practicable

— Allow for specialist / core staff to return from furlough or avoid redundancy to work on future sustainable activity plans

— Increase commissioning and employment opportunities for freelance artists and creative practitioners (between now and end of March 2021) to support continued public engagement while closed.

Beacon Arts Centre is among 20 venues across Scotland to receive money from the Scottish Government’s initial allocation of £12.5million through Creative Scotland. Recipients of the second strand — an open fund of £5million, will be announced in due course.

Pauline Kane, director, Beacon Arts Centre said: “Beacon Arts Centre welcomes Creative Scotland’s announcement and is grateful for this crucial support from the Scottish Government’s Performing Arts Venues Relief Fund.

“Together with our core funding from Creative Scotland and Inverclyde Council, this will safeguard the organisation during this period, allow us to maintain the employment of our staff and support the return of our freelance team, all of whom are vital to the planning and delivery of our performance, participation and exhibition programmes.

“We will also use this support to continue developing new ways of engaging with our audiences and participants until such time as we can welcome the people of Inverclyde and beyond back to the Beacon.”

Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “Theatres and performing arts venues are vital to individuals, communities and our country. Our performing arts venues effectively had to close overnight, with an almost complete loss of income. There is no doubt that in doing so they saved lives, and for that I am extremely grateful.

“We know the impact of this crisis will be long-term so ambitious action to support the future of these organisations, as well as our wider cultural infrastructure, is key. This funding will be a vital lifeline to help performing arts venues continue to weather the storm.”

Iain Munro, CEO, Creative Scotland said: “There are significant challenges facing Scotland’s culture sector, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. This funding for performing arts venues is much needed and will help organisations tackle these challenges but we are aware that budgets are finite and it is not possible to provide financial assistance to every organisation through this route at this time.

“The Covid-19 emergency funds announced for the culture sector so far are not, by any means, the end of the support to be offered and there will be more announcements to come, not least in terms of how the £97million Scotland has received for culture and heritage as a result of the UK Government’s funding package is to be applied.

“The precise nature of this is still being determined and, beyond what has already been made available, Creative Scotland is working closely with the Scottish Government to actively discuss further support for the culture sector, including for those who may not have received funding previously.”

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