Truck Festival and Manchester’s Night And Day among 558 more arts organisations saved by Culture Recovery Fund

Manchester’s legendary Night And Day venue and Oxfordshire’s Truck Festival are among the 558 recipients of a share of £76million in the next wave of the Culture Recovery Fund.

Earlier this week, the music industry celebrated over 1,000 venues, festivals and arts spaces being awarded Cultural Recovery Funding to survive until April and weather the storm of closures and complications brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Following that handout of £257million, now the next round of recipients of the £1.57billion bailout fund have been revealed.

Manchester’s Night And Cafe, which fought an artist-supported battle against closure back in 2014, will receive a £64,745 grant, enabling the venue to host local socially-distanced showcases from December until it can host full capacity shows again next year.

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“We’re delighted to have received support from the Cultural Recovery Fund,” said Night And Day director Jennifer Smithson. “The grant enables us to plan for the future when we look forward to having live music back at the venue once again.”

Meanwhile, Sheffield’s Yellow Arch Studios (where the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Pulp and Richard Hawley have recorded) will be getting £161,053, the capital’s Fighting Cocks Bar & Venue is due £163,732, The Dev Camden gets £197,385, Coventry’s Kasbah £180,838,  London’s Troubadour receives £647,172, Nottingham’s Hockley Hustle £98,800, Boiler Room get £791,562 and Oxfordshire’s Truck Festival will be awarded £219,232.

Foals
Foals headline Truck Festival, 2019

The Music Venue Trust, who have been fighting to stop grassroots venues from being lost forever since they were forced to close their doors back in March, have “warmly welcomed this vital government intervention”, and thanked music fans for getting behind the hugely successful #SaveOurVenues campaign.

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“The Culture Recovery Fund released by Arts Council England on behalf of Department for Digital Culture, Media and Sport is an essential injection of support that doesn’t just protect cherished and much loved cultural infrastructure, it also enable these venues to stage a gradual, planned and safe return to work for staff, artists and crew and that will support the whole grassroots sector as we seek to Revive Live,” Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd told NME.

Save Our Venues
Save Our Venues (Picture: Press / Save Our Venues)

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Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: “This is more vital funding to protect cultural gems across the country, save jobs and prepare the arts to bounce back. Through Arts Council England we are delivering the biggest ever investment in the arts in record time. Hundreds of millions of pounds are already making their way to thousands of organisations.

“These awards build on our commitment to be here for culture in every part of the country.”

Further details of grant awards of up to £3million and £270million in repayable cultural finance will follow in the coming days and weeks.

Expect to see all of the recipients publicly thanking the government and Arts Council for their funding, as it has emerged that this was a term of receiving the grants.







With full-capacity gigs currently expected to return safely in April, the cash injection will help to mothball live spaces until COVID restrictions subside. This comes after many venues feared that they may “never see funding or reopen“. News on funding for venues in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will follow in the coming weeks.

However, while the Cultural Recovery Fund news is welcomed, many fear that workers and road crew are being “ignored” by the chancellor’s new Job Support Scheme.

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Many industry spokespeople representing musicians, crew workers and other freelancers and self-employed continue to call for a tailored sector-specific support package to help them survive until full capacity live music can return – including a ‘Seat Out To Help Out’ scheme.

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