News

Arts Council announces Catalyst grant recipients

Fundraising | Niki May Young | 21 May 2012

Arts Council England has announced the 173 successful applicants to the £30m Catalyst Arts capacity-building and match-funding scheme which supports arts organisations using innovation to make themselves more attractive to donors.

Awardees will receive funding to support fundraising infrastructure over three years in annual payments and can also claim match-funding for successful fundraising up to four times in any year.

The funding announcement is the first of three that will be announced under the Catalyst scheme - successful applicants to the Arts Council's £55m Catalyst Endowments scheme will be announced on 20 June and a £7m Catalyst programme for arts organisations with limited fundraising experience will be opened in Autumn 2012.

It is expected that organisations receiving the Catalyst Arts funding will use the first year's funding to build capacity for fundraising and in the second and third years will use the match-funding as incentive to encourage donations from the public.

Awards have been granted on a regional basis: 45 were awarded in London, 22 in the South West, 19 in Yorkshire and the North West, 18 in the West Midlands, 15 in the South East, 13 in the East Midlands and 11 in both the East and the North East. 40 organisations across England have received the maximum grant of £240,000 while 42 have received the minimum of £120,000

Commenting on the awards, Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport said: "There's huge unlocked potential for fundraising across the cultural sector. While some claim that there's no money to be raised outside big London organsiations, I've seen for myself what professional, dedicated fundraising expertise  can deliver in every corner of the country.

"We recognise there's a challenge in making sure the right skills are available, particularly in smaller organisations, which is why these grants are a huge leap towards a future of greater financial independence for hundreds of smaller arts groups."

The Arts Council is to deliver £1.4bn of public money from the government and £1bn of National Lottery money to arts organisations between 2011 and 2015. But the recent funding announcement comes after research by arts magazine The Stage found that one in ten arts organisations will close after losing Arts Council funding. In March 2011 206 arts organisations found out that they would no longer receive Arts Council funding following a government budget cut of 29.6 per cent to the organisation.

You can see the full list of successful Catalyst Arts capacity and match-funding applicants here

Directory: Arts Council England