£ 250,000 ‘ lifeline’ for Underbelly
T h e o r g a n i s e r s o f E d i n - burgh's Christmas and Hogmanay festivals have secured a £ 250,000 “lifeline" from the Scottish Government to help them cope with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on their business.
Underbelly, which is also one of the biggest operators on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, received the maximum possible grant from a Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund.
The grant was £ 100,000 more than an award made from the same fund to the Fringe Society, which had warned publicly that it was “facing insolvency” after this year's event had to be called off.
However, Underbelly’s help from the fund, which is administered by Scottish Enterprise, h a s n e ve r b e e n o f f i c i a l l y announced. The Fringe’s support was revealed at the daily coronavirus briefing in June.
Underbelly has separately secured £ 584,751 in UK Gove r nment s uppor t under a separate £ 257 million rescue package announced by Arts Council England last month.
It is one of three Fringe operators to receive support from t he S cottish Government’s £ 1 2 0 mil l i o n f und, which closed to applicants in May after being created to help “viable but vulnerable” companies through the pandemic. Gilded Balloon and Pleasance received £ 150,000 and £ 100,000 respectively.
However, Underbelly is still working on alternative plans for Hogmanay in Edinburgh next month – even though all major public events have been cancelled and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has ruled out relaxing restrictions over new year to allow household gatherings.
It still has a contract worth up t o £ 800,000 with Edinburgh City Council for Hogmanay after approving pro
posals that would "allow people in Edinburgh to reflect on 2020 and to look forward positively to 2021.”
Creative Scotland has confirmed that Underbelly has been awarded £ 175,000 from the Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund for a Hogmanay project which is yet to be announced. Another government agency, Eventscotland, which funded the Hogmanay celebrations to the tune of £ 200,000 last year, has also confirmed it will be s u p p o r t i n g U n d e r b e l l y ’s plans, but would not reveal its
grant. The six- week- long winter festivals generated more than £ 9 million in turnover last year. Underbelly’s staffing costs and overheads totalled more than £ 3.4 million.
The last winter festivals were dogged by controversy after councillors were kept in the dark over a contract extension for Underbelly and an expansion of the Christmas market in Princes Street Gardens which was later found to have flouted planning regulations. A spokesman for Scottish Enterprise said: “Each
application was rigorously assessed in terms of number of employees, wage l evels, impact on local communities and supply to critical sectors.”
A spokeswoman for Underbelly said: “We’re very grateful to Scottish Enterprise for our grant.
"This has been specifically awarded to help retain our staff in Scotland and rebuild in 2021 following a year when we have sadly seen all of our festivals and events cancelled.”