A second round of funding offering £14m is available to independent cinemas in England who have suffered business disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The funding comes from the Culture Recovery Fund, a £1.57bn rescue package first announced in July 2020, to support cultural organisations and heritage sites through the pandemic.

As part of this package, a £30m fund was created specifically for independent cinemas. This is administered by the British Film Institute (BFI) and first opened in August 2020.

The fund has already announced grants totalling £16 million to more than 200 independent cinemas across England.

Applications for second round of funding

A second round of the Culture Recovery Fund, providing an additional £14m of funding opened in January, providing further support to independent cinemas.

The Second Round of the funding is open to both new applicants, and those that received a grant in the first round.

The deadline for applications is midday on 1 February 2021. It will cover a range of costs from 1 April 2021 to 30 June 2021.

The BFI will aim to make awards at the end of March, ahead of the start of the funding period starting 1 April 2021.

Applications can be made on the BFI website here.

If your cinema is in need of urgent funds before 1 April 2021, the BFI can be contacted directly at [email protected] to provide further advice.

Further details of the current support available to businesses can be found on our COVID-19 support hub.