The vital funding will help Scotland's top attractions battle through the pandemic
An emergency fund to help Scotland’s top cultural attractions battle through the coronavirus crisis has been launched.
Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) has announced details of the £4 million Recovery and Resilience fund, which has been made available by the Scottish Government. The fund will open to applications on Monday (17 August).
This fund will support accredited and non-accredited independent museums in Scotland that have been put at risk by the Covid-19 pandemic. It can help organisations that are struggling to cover costs between now and 31 March 2021, but it is also there to support organisations to plan and implement measures that will make them more financially sustainable beyond next spring.
The fund aims to get money to communities right across Scotland through supporting the valuable work of museums and galleries, who play key social and economic roles in their local areas. The MGS team are contacting all eligible museums but also encourage museums to get in touch with any questions or to discuss application ideas.
Lucy Casot, chief executive of Museums Galleries Scotland, said: “We are delighted to open the Recovery and Resilience Fund to deliver much needed support to museums and galleries who have faced continuous financial uncertainty during the pandemic. The sector quickly responded to the needs of their communities during the lockdown through providing fun, imaginative, and vital remote engagement that helped to alleviate loneliness, continue dementia groups, and gave bored kids and tired parents hours of activities. Now our museums and galleries need the support of this fund to weather the next period of financial uncertainty and continue their key work in communities."
MGS’s Urgent Response Fund, which has been supporting independent accredited museums with urgent operational costs will close at the end of this week.The Covid-19 Adaptation Fund - which is open to all museums to support with purchases and training for reopening up to £7,500 (£10,000 for partnerships) - remains open.
MGS has created new tools and resources to support museums to reopen. This includes a slack channel where the sector can ask questions and get peer support and an advice section on its website. To help promote this phase of reopening to the public MGS is running a campaign to encourage people to visit those museums and galleries that will be open.
