Ikon to receive funding from Culture Recovery Fund

Ikon is delighted to announce we have received a grant of £129,473 from the second round of the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund to help the organisation recover and reopen.

More than £300 million has been awarded to thousands of cultural organisations across the country, including Ikon, in the latest round of support from the Culture Recovery Fund.

Ikon will use this grant to bolster reserves and refresh our online offer for visitors, for both local and international audiences who may not be able to step foot in the gallery for some time.

We are absolutely thrilled to receive funding from the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund. It will help us recover from these past long months of difficulty and uncertainty, to welcome our much-missed visitors back to the gallery, both in person and online. We send heartfelt thanks to Arts Council England for their support. Ikon will reopen on 17 May with a new exhibition, Ikon for Artists, a selling opportunity for over 250 local artists, as a way of expressing our appreciation of them and their continuing creativity in the face of adversity. Jonathan Watkins, Ikon Director

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.

The second round of awards will help organisations to look ahead to the spring and summer and plan for reopening and recovery. After months of closures and cancellations to contain the virus and save lives, this funding will be a much-needed helping hand for organisations transitioning back to normal in the months ahead.

This funding 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.