Cause UK Receives Support from Government’s Culture Recovery Fund

Cause UK is amongst more than 2,700 recipients to benefit from the latest round of awards from the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund This award will allow Cause UK to…

Cause UK
  • Cause UK is amongst more than 2,700 recipients to benefit from the latest round of awards from the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund
  • This award will allow Cause UK to support arts charities and festivals, as well as help them programme their own arts events to help throw the spotlight on good causes.

 

Cause UK in Harrogate has received a grant of £35,000 from the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund.

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

In the past decade, Cause UK has provided a platform for new talent and brought household names to new audiences. From stand-alone festivals to animating high-profile sporting events, the agency has organised danceathons, theatre, comedy, concerts, exhibitions and commissioned new musical scores.

Clair Challenor-Chadwick, Managing Director of Cause UK, said: “As a vibrant agency for 10 years, Cause UK had strong growth pre-Covid, thanks to our growing cultural portfolio. Obviously, that was all put on hold with Covid.”

Just prior to the first lockdown, the agency secured and hosted Ken Loach and Brian Blessed in Harrogate on behalf of the Harrogate Film Festival, as well as family events at the Royal Hall with Steve Backshall and Chris Packham.

Cause UK run the annual Dickens Festival in Malton, and took it online with a Zoom with Miriam Margolyes and Dickens’ great, great, great granddaughter, Lucinda Hawksley, which attracted a global audience.

During 2020, Cause UK delivered pro bono cultural activities, to raise awareness of the arts and support charitable campaigns.

The team engaged musicians Rufus Wainwright and Jools Holland to feature in a viral film with disabled musicians, which launched on Channel 5 News for PACES specialist school in Sheffield. They live streamed world-class pianist, Ke Ma, at York Minster, which was broadcast on BBC Look North and featured in the Times and the Telegraph. Other projects include putting a grand piano in an iconic beauty spot to highlight the plight of musicians and importance of nature, which went viral globally and featured in the Times, Telegraph, Guardian and BBC Look North.

Clair said: “A significant part of our work is also as a support agency to arts, the public sector and charities. We’ve supported organisations as diverse as Besbrode Pianos, Ilkley Literature Festival, The Barnsley Civic, Harrogate Convention Centre, the Wesley Centre in Malton, North Yorkshire Open Studios and the Himalayan Sculpture Park. We’re proud our work has had significant impact, helping clients to win awards, increase visitor and audience reach, engage sponsors, and attract investment.”

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 made today 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.

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.”

Cause UK has worked with homeless theatre companies, veterans’ charities and disabled children on cultural projects. Major projects include working with Sheffield songwriter Eliot Kennedy on a veterans’ charity concert with Gary Barlow, and again with Alfie Boe and a starry line-up to open the Invictus UK Trials in Sheffield, resulting in a private meet and greet with Prince Harry.

Since 2010, Cause UK has raised over £1m for the arts and good causes.

Clair Challenor-Chadwick, said: “As a cause-driven agency, our arts work throws the spotlight on societal issues such as poverty, homelessness, racism and mental health. Agents of change, we aim to enrich lives, explore what matters, champion good, provoke thought, inspire action and put heart and intelligence into our cultural programming. We are thrilled to be supported by the Arts Council to continue our work in 2021 and beyond.”

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.”

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 Cause UK

Cause UK is a full-service public relations and marketing agency.

Established in 2010, it has proven to raise profiles, attract investment, increase footfall and ultimately boost revenue for its clients.

 

Cause UK:

-Provide strategic marketing and public relations services.

-Are Google accredited in digital marketing services.

-Support businesses across all sectors, particularly green, ethical businesses and Corporate Social Responsibility agendas.

-Represent the social and community enterprise sector.

-Work with the public sector on stakeholder management and key messaging.

-Raise awareness of good causes.

www.causeuk.com

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.

 

Photo shows: Clair Challenor-Chadwick (l) and Ann Chadwick (r) Directors of Cause UK at Brimham Rocks, Pateley Bridge.  Photo credit Gary Lawson