Second round of Culture Recovery fund awarded to Grow to help us recover and reopen

Ese & The Vooduu People’s live streamed performance from Grow, Hackney (2020)

02 April 2021

Today, we’re thrilled to confirm we are among more than 2,700 recipients to benefit from the latest round of awards from the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund.

This award will help us look ahead to the spring and summer and plan for reopening and recovery. After months of closures and cancellations to contain the coronavirus and save lives, this funding will be a much-needed helping hand for us as we transition back to normal in the months ahead. 

A Cultural Programme in a Covid-19 Secure Venue

This award will help us delivery a cultural programme of live music, talks and debates, engage with the community and share visual and performance art.

Expect special guests of established and emerging talent, from weekly jazz with Stratos; drumming brunches with Afro Venezuelan conga player, Williams Cumberbatch; audio visual collectives; interactive cabaret, afro-house to psychedelic improvisation and much more. As always, we celebrate cultures from across the globe to down the road.

Sessions will be live streamed into your home or as we reopen, join us on the covered canalside garden terrace to watch live performances on a floating pontoon and enjoy our new mezzanine level which looks out onto the River Lea.

Commitment to Sustainability

We continue to commit to sustainability. Our menu is sustainably sourced and drinks from ethical enterprises support charities, including organic wine which works with the Born Free Foundation and Kompassion Kombucha brewed in Grow Studios.

We use eco-electricity and cleaning products. We can’t wait to bring back workshops, talks, films, our ‘Future Fair’ markets & sustainable supper clubs - which all help to share the ideas of sustainability at a grassroots level.

”Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair, Arts Council England, said:

“Investing in a thriving cultural sector at the heart of communities is a vital part of helping the whole country to recover from the pandemic. These grants will help to re-open theatres, concert halls, and museums and will give artists and companies the opportunity to begin making new work.  

We are grateful to the Government for this support and for recognising the paramount importance of culture to our sense of belonging and identity as individuals and as a society.”Over £800 million in grants and loans has already been awarded to support almost 3,800 cinemas, performance venues, museums, heritage sites and other cultural organisations dealing with the immediate challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.

Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, said:

“Our record breaking Culture Recovery Fund has already helped thousands of culture and heritage organisations across the country survive the biggest crisis they've ever faced.

Now we’re staying by their side as they prepare to welcome the public back through their doors - helping our cultural gems plan for reopening and thrive in the better times ahead."

The funding awarded today is from a £400 million pot which was held back last year to ensure the Culture Recovery Fund could continue to help organisations in need as the public health picture changed. The funding has been awarded by Arts Council England, as well as Historic England and National Lottery Heritage Fund and the British Film Institute.  

About Arts Council England

Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. We have set out our strategic vision in Let’s Create that by 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where everyone of us has access to a remarkable range of high quality cultural experiences. We invest public money from Government and The National Lottery to help support the sector and to deliver this vision. www.artscouncil.org.uk

Following the Covid-19 crisis, the Arts Council developed a £160 million Emergency Response Package, with nearly 90% coming from the National Lottery, for organisations and individuals needing support. We are also one of the bodies administering the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund. Find out more at www.artscouncil.org.uk/covid19.

At the Budget, the Chancellor announced the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund would be boosted with a further £300 million investment. Details of this third round of funding will be announced soon.