Article: One week left for independent cinemas in England to apply to the Culture Recovery Fund

The fund which launched on Monday 10 August and closes Friday 30 October, is administered by the BFI as part of the Government’s unprecedented £1.57bn support package to help Britain’s culture, arts and heritage organisations hit hard by the pandemic which has included the closure of all cinemas across the UK. Of the 775 cinemas in the UK which form a vibrant part of our culture, 55% are independent venues.

Open to award both non-profit and independent commercial cinemas, including mixed art-form venues, funding will be directed at building based venues which provide a year round film programme; it is, therefore, not available for film festivals or touring operators. It is anticipated that the first grants will be available from the end of August, helping many independent cinemas which are working towards a scheduled September re-opening.

Protecting cultural assets

The fund offers support via two strands addressing the high upfront health and safety costs facing venues and the challenges of financial viability in the early months of reopening as social distancing limits the number of cinema seats that can be sold at each performance. Cinemas are able to apply for grants from both strands which will be structured as follows:

• £3m for safety grants to enable cinemas (up to £10,000 per cinema) to put the necessary measures in place to ensure the safety of their workforce and the public; and/or
• £27m business sustainability grants (up to £200,000 per organisation) to support independent cinemas to operate viably under the restricted conditions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The fund’s criteria has been designed to balance the urgent needs of the independent film exhibition sector with DCMS priorities for supporting organisations that play an important part in levelling-up their region, in particular protecting cultural assets in places where they are the only publicly funded organisation and/or a key part of the cultural fabric in their community.

Additional details and guidelines for cinemas looking to apply to the Culture Recovery Fund for Independent Cinemas in England can be found at www.bfi.org.uk/Culturerecoveryfund.

Cinemas in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland come under the devolved Government administrations.