Coronavirus (COVID-19): culture and creative sector support

Specific support for creative practitioners

Creative Scotland Bridging Bursary Fund (closed)

The Creative Scotland Bridging Bursary Fund provides one-off bursary payments of between £500 and £2,500 to freelance artists and creative practitioners that have lost earnings as a result of COVID19.

Please note that the Bridging Bursary Fund is currently closed. Please monitor the Creative Scotland website for further information.

Creative Scotland Open Fund

Individuals and organisations can apply for funding up to £50,000 through Creative Scotland's Open Fund, to help support themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Open Project is an existing fund supported by £7.5 million National Lottery funding. It has been repurposed to help applicants explore ways of working that will help them to adapt and respond to the current changing circumstances.

Find out more about the Open Fund which opens for applications on 3 April 2020.

Screen Scotland Bridging Bursary

The Creative Scotland Bridging Bursary Fund provides one-off bursary payments of between £500 and £2,500 to freelance artists and creative practitioners that have lost earnings as a result of COVID19.

Please note that the Bridging Bursary Fund is currently closed. Please monitor the Creative Scotland website for further information.

Find out how to apply to the Screen Scotland Bridging Bursary fund.

Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund

Applications for the Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises Hardship fund are now closed.

Creative Scotland: COVID-19 funding and resource directory 

An A-Z of funding and resources available to those in the creative community, who have been affected by coronavirus.

Support for Crowdfunding

In addition to the support available from public institutions, Creative Industries Federation and Crowdfunder are providing support to help creative businesses, organisations and freelancers generate cash through crowdfunding activities including pre-selling tickets, products, bookings, services etc. The initiative provides tools and technology to facilitate this, with no platform and transaction fees for projects tackling the effects of the coronavirus emergency.

Further information on this support can be found on the Crowdfunder website. 

Support for museums and galleries 

Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) Urgent Response Fund

An Urgent Response Fund will support museums and galleries critically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. £400,000 will support accredited, independent museums who care for Recognised Collections, and £300,000 will support non-Recognised Collections. Unlike MGS’s standard grants programmes the awards will cover core costs and will not be tied to project outcomes.

Read further information about the Urgent Response Fund. Applications will open by 8 April 2020. 

The MGS Grants Team can be contacted at investment@museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk or on 0131 550 4115.

Digital Resilience Fund

A £55,000 Digital Resilience Fund, open to all museums, has been formed to enable museums to purchase the necessary equipment to work from home and to enable museums to provide digital access to collections and activity. The impact of the fund will benefit the sector’s digital infrastructure beyond the current situation.

The new funds are part of a raft of measures in the first stage of MGS’s three-phased approach of ‘Emergency, Recovery and Resilience’ to support the sector in 2020/21. Future phases will support the wider sector to recover and build resilience. MGS will announce further details of these in the coming weeks.

All MGS’s regular funding programmes will be suspended until further notice to allow flexibility to respond to the current situation.

Museums and galleries in Scotland may be eligible to apply for the emergency funding and measures including the rates relief and one-off grants, Third Sector Resilience Fund and the Job Retention Scheme detailed below.

Read further information about the Digital Resilience Fund. Applications will open by 8th April. 

The MGS Grants Team can be contacted at investment@museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk or on 0131 550 4115.