The SNP Government is putting in place a £21 million support package to support cultural and events organisations and freelancers experiencing cancellations due to the rapid spread of the new Omicron variant.
This is to help manage the significant impact of the new guidelines around social distancing and the limitations on the number of people who can attend events.
The £21 million is from the £100 million package announced by Scottish Ministers last week to compensate businesses affected by events cancellations and includes an additional £1 million from existing events sector funds.
The funds will be allocated as follows:
£10.2 million for cultural organisations and venues to be administered by Creative Scotland
£2.8 million towards the wider events supply chain to be administered by EventScotland.
£8 million for the Cancellation Fund for Creative Freelancers to be administered by Creative Scotland.
Creative freelancers can apply for between £500 and £2,000 from the cancellation fund which opens at 2pm on Thursday, 6 January 2022.
Details on who is eligible for the fund and how to apply are available on Creative Scotland’s website.
More information and guidelines on the other funds administered by Creative Scotland and EventScotland will be published in early January.
Kenneth Gibson MSP said:
“This £21 million in additional funding is vital to support culture and events organisations and protect the livelihoods of the people who work in the sector across North Ayrshire, including of course freelancers.
“Culture and events continue to be among the sectors hardest hit by COVID-19 as the emergence of a new variant is once again causing disruption and uncertainty, as well as a severe financial impact on the sector at a time that was just beginning to recover.
“SNP Government Ministers continue to engage with freelancers and representatives from culture and events organisations to ensure they get immediate support to meet their needs.”
EventScotland will work with the Scottish Government and the Event Industry Advisory Group (EIAG) to determine the best way of distributing the funding and future funding programmes, to ensure the industry can return and rebuild when the time is right.
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