60 arts organisations are set to benefit from an additional £3.6m in funding as a result of a Jobs Protection and Resilience Fund set up by Arts Council of Wales and supported by Welsh Government
Funding will be distributed across Wales to venues and organisations both large and small, including artforms from opera, music and dance to theatre and circus.
After discussions about the financial crisis facing the arts in Wales, the Welsh Government released emergency funding of £1.5 million in October. Arts Council of Wales (ACW) was given responsibility for administering the fund set up to help arts organisations to protect livelihoods and strengthen resilience in the arts sector.
Demand for the fund was high; Arts Council of Wales received applications from 95 organisations with a total ask of around £4.9m. Faced with very immediate and convincing applications for support, Arts Council executives proposed to their full Council that some of ACW’s limited reserves should be added to the fund and this was approved. Following further discussions, Welsh Government provided an additional £1m, creating a total fund of £3.6m.