Vital £ 74k for arts and entertainments

Organisations across Ayrshire are this week celebrating a cash windfall from the Scottish Government’s Culture Organisations and Venue Recovery Fund.

Five awards have been made across South and East Ayrshire, gaining around £ 74,000 as part of £ 11.75m national deal.

The awardees include Smalltown Audio Ltd ( South Ayrshire £ 10,000), Scotia Arts ( South Ayrshire £ 10,000), Venturayr Ltd ( South Ayrshire £ 12,000), Big Hand Events Ltd ( East Ayrshire £ 28,560) and Ian T Muir ( South Ayrshire £ 14,138).

Support has been provided to a range of venues and organisations working in comedy, festivals, music, nightclubs, performing arts, publishing, visual arts, as well as the cultural support infrastructure.

The fund is designed to protect jobs and support the sustainability of organisations threatened with insolvency by the impact of the Covid- 19 pandemic.

This is the first tranche of awards to be made from this fund, which is being delivered through Creative Scotland.

A further announcement will follow regarding the remaining applications and funds within the next two weeks.

Culture Secretary, Fiona Hyslop said: “The Scottish

Government is determined to do everything within our powers to see the sector through this crisis.

“This emergency funding will provide vital support to a wide range of cultural organisations and venues across Scotland currently facing extreme challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic. It has been designed specifically to help organisations cope with the immediate issues they are facing and to help save jobs.”

Iain Munro, CEO, Creative Scotland welcomed the funds and added said: “We will continue to keep focussed, with the Scottish Government and other partners, on helping those people and organisations in most need.”