Culture Recovery Fund
The Culture Recovery Fund was an unprecedented fund set up to tackle the crisis that faced our most-loved cultural organisations and heritage sites during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The Culture Recovery Board was created to oversee the delivery of the Fund.
Culture and the coronavirus pandemic
In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the unprecedented challenges it brought to culture and creativity across the UK, the government announced a series of measures in March 2020 to help save these sectors, maintaining jobs and keeping businesses afloat.
On 5 July 2020, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport announced a £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund rescue package for cultural organisations to help the sector survive, and when possible, reopen.
On 25 June 2021 the third round of the Culture Recovery Fund was announced to provide further support to cultural, heritage and creative sectors as they recover and reopen. Grants are no longer being made through the Culture Recovery Fund, with final grant offers announced in March 2022. Links with further information on the funds can be found on the website of each delivery body:
Evaluation and Management Data
The government commissioned a robust evaluation on the impact of the Culture Recovery Fund. This has now been published, alongside the release of aggregated management data, which shows the scale and scope of the government’s investment.
Role of the Culture Recovery Board
The Culture Recovery Board was created to:
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provide recommendations on the allocation of the largest and more complex grants
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make decisions on the repayable finance element of the Fund
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provide assurance on smaller revenue grants under £1million, and
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oversee the key delivery risks and issues for the programme
The Board had an independent chair, Sir Damon Buffini, and included the chairs (or a nominated board member) from each of the relevant Arm’s Length Bodies (Arts Council England, British Film Institute, Historic England, and The National Lottery Heritage Fund). It also included: the Commissioner for Cultural Recovery and Renewal, Lord Neil Mendoza; a senior Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport official; and five independent board members.
Board members brought a wide range of experience and expertise to the process of assuring the overall programme and awarding repayable finance, ensuring it worked to protect arts, culture and heritage for people across the country. With the agreement of the Secretary of State, the Board dissolved on 31 May 2022.
We had robust measures in place to monitor and mitigate where board members have conflicts of interest. This included keeping an up-to-date register of interests, and processes for ensuring that where members of the board have declared an interest that they are not involved in any relevant decision making or discussions.
All Board members signed up to a robust conflict of interest policy which includes declaring all personal or professional conflicts both generally and in advance of each meeting, recusing themselves from discussion and voting rights of any application in which they have an interest, and guaranteeing not to discuss the scheme and applications process in any way with any organisation that applied.
Related news and updates
Further information
Here for Culture Campaign Page and Toolkit
Historic England: Mapped – Culture Recovery Funding Near You
Contact details
Privacy notice
The Culture Recovery Fund was delivered by DCMS arm’s-length bodies. However, we have published a privacy notice regarding the use of any personal data held by DCMS.