MAIA awarded £43,525 from DCMS' Culture Recovery Fund
MAIA are to receive £43,525 from second round of the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund
MAIA are among more than 2,700 recipients of the latest round of awards from the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund.
This award will support the continuation of our community work, ensuring that our spaces are safe and COVID-secure, as we continue to invest in accessibility, disability justice and redistributing resources.
MAIA has received a grant of £43,525 from the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund to help the organisation recover and reopen.
More than £300 million has been awarded to thousands of cultural organisations across the country including MAIA in the latest round of support from the Culture Recovery Fund, the Culture Secretary announced today.
Although it doesn’t cover the entirety of our losses through the devastation of COVID-19 and it was a significantly reduced offer, this crucial resource will allow us to open YARD safely as restrictions ease, while we continue our commitments to accessibility and disability justice, as detailed here.
Over the next three months, it will also support the longer-term security of our team and self-employed practitioners within our ecosystem, who are the life-force of the cultural sector.
Over £800 million in grants and loans has already been awarded to support almost 3,800 cinemas, performance venues, museums, heritage sites and other cultural organisations dealing with the immediate challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.
The second round of awards made today will help organisations to look ahead to the spring and summer and plan for reopening and recovery. After months of closures and cancellations to contain the virus and save lives, this funding will be a much-needed helping hand for organisations transitioning back to normal in the months ahead.
Culture Secretary, Oliver 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."
Amahra Spence, Co-Founder and Creative Director of MAIA said:
“We are thankful to be a recipient of this much-needed resource, particularly as we know there is so much strain on small businesses and independent/freelance workers within the arts and cultural space. At the beginning of the pandemic, we fought to raise income so that we could redistribute funds to those most in need, who were most likely to slip through the gaps of existing support. The needs of people are ongoing and we will continue to do our best in getting resources directly to people.
We don’t take this fund for granted. With the Cultural Recovery Fund, we are able to commit to a reemergence that is safe, community-centric and rooted in our core values of justice, community, access and joy.
As we are about to launch Imagination Szn, a new programme of labs, workshops, talks and events, plus our first ever exhibition in our first home, YARD, this news couldn’t come at a better time. We can’t wait to welcome everyone to YARD as soon as it is safe to do so.”
Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair, Arts Council England, said:
“Investing in a thriving cultural sector at the heart of communities is a vital part of helping the whole country to recover from the pandemic. These grants will help to re-open theatres, concert halls, and museums and will give artists and companies the opportunity to begin making new work.
We are grateful to the Government for this support and for recognising the paramount importance of culture to our sense of belonging and identity as individuals and as a society.”
The funding awarded today is from a £400 million pot which was held back last year to ensure the Culture Recovery Fund could continue to help organisations in need as the public health picture changed. The funding has been awarded by Arts Council England, as well as Historic England and National Lottery Heritage Fund and the British Film Institute.