Christopher BarrettGlastonbury Festival and Boomtown are among 2,700 recipients of Cultural Recovery Fund (CRF) round two grants amounting to £300m, announced by culture secretary Oliver Dowden today, 2 April.
He said Glastonbury’s £900,000 grant would help the festival stage two smaller events this year and would help carry the festival through to 2022. Glastonbury will stage a ticketed livestream event at the festival site in May.
Other festivals to benefit in the latest round of the CRF are Boomtown (£991,000), Hay Festival(£596,000), Cheltenham Jazz Festival (£290,000), Sea Change Festival (£126,000), Towersey Festival £104,000), Y Not Festival (£120,000), Bestival and Camp Bestival founder Rob da Banks’ Sunday Best Recordings Ltd (£92,000), Noisily Festival (£78,000), Strawberries and Creem (£75,000) and Nozstock (£32,000).
Cheltenham Festivals leadership team issued a statement that suggested the organisation would have struggled to survive without the funding from DCMS.
Glastonbury operators Michael and Emily Eavis said in a statement, “We’re extremely grateful to be offered a significant award from the Culture Recovery Fund. After losing millions from the cancellation of our last two festivals, this grant will make a huge difference in helping to secure our future.”
Other beneficiaries include NASS Festival and Boardmasters Festival programmers SW1 Productions; event industry suppliers and service providers such as A&J Big Tops Limited (£545,000), AB Lighting (£79,000) and Symphotech (£60,000); grassroots venues including Hull’s The New Adelphi Club (£30,000), The Louisiana in Bristol (£63,000), London’s The Magic Garden (£366,000); and regional promoters such as Tameside-based TGC Concerts (£59,000).
Dowden said, “Our record breaking Culture Recovery Fund has already helped thousands of culture and heritage organisations across the country survive the biggest crisis they’ve ever faced.
“Now we’re staying by their side as they prepare to welcome the public back through their doors – helping our cultural gems plan for reopening and thrive in the better times ahead.”
The £300m increase to the existing £1.57bn Cultural Recovery fund was announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak in his March Budget. Prior to this second round of funding, the CRF grants allotted to the festival sector amounted to £25m, with £8.1m of that being spread across 51 festivals.
The full list of CRF round two recipients can be found here.