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.
