A new report has highlighted the positive impact of the £108 million Cultural Recovery Fund (CRF), launched by the Welsh Government to help support cultural organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report, commissioned by the Welsh Government, found that both cultural organisations and those working for them (including many freelancers) had benefited significantly from the fund.
A third of freelancers surveyed for the report said that they felt they may have left the sector entirely were it not for the funding, while a similar number said they would most likely have sought temporary employment outside of the sector. Just one in seven freelance respondents had taken a job outside of the cultural sector, highlighting how the CRF helped to stem an exodus of freelance talent from the market.
Other than freelancers, 94 per cent of cultural organisations said the CRF had played a role in them surviving the COVID-19 pandemic, with 57 per cent of organisations saying that the impact of the CRF had been fundamental to their survival.
Dawn Bowden, Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport, said: “The Welsh Government’s Cultural Recovery Fund was launched as part of efforts to ensure we did everything possible to ensure our arts, culture, heritage, events and creative sectors survived the COVID pandemic.”
Bowden added: “We also launched the first Freelancer Fund in the UK. The decision to include freelancers as a key part of the Cultural Recovery Fund was in recognition of the essential role they play in our economy and in creating and delivering cultural experience.”
“We recognised we’ll need the professionalism, experience, enthusiasm and vision of these professionals in the creative and cultural sector to help us come together and rebuild after the public health crisis abated. I’m delighted to see that people are now having the opportunity to work in these sectors once more – and helping us on the journey to recovery.”
