Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants will reopen on 22 July with a funding pot of £59.8m to give out before April 2021.
The fund, which is a rolling fund for creative and cultural projects that benefit the public, was paused earlier this year to free funding for ACE’s coronavirus emergency response.
It will be open to individual artists, arts organisations, museums and libraries, offering grants of between £1,000 and £100,000.
Money from the fund can be used to directly fund the creation and delivery of cultural activity. Work that has a longer-term positive impact, such as research and development, will also be eligible for funding.
In a statement, ACE said it had improved the NLPG programme to make it more responsive to the needs of smaller independent organisations and individual practitioners, through moves including relaxing a requirement for applicants to secure 10 per cent match funding and expanding the type of work for which libraries can request funding.
It also plans to launch an external advice-giving programme to ensure the fund reaches a wider and more diverse applicant pool. It has said it aims for an equal success rate for individuals and organisations to make sure that the former are well supported while other support programmes are unavailable during the Covid-19 crisis.
Darren Henley, chief executive of ACE, said: “Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve seen how much of a positive difference creative people and organisations make to communities across England.
“Thanks to National Lottery players, we’ve been able to support our nation’s creativity over the past few months through our Emergency Response Funds. Now we’re turning our attention to rebuilding cultural and artistic life in our villages, towns and cities through this £59.8m National Lottery Project Grants investment in artists, arts organisations, museums and libraries.”
More information is available on the ACE website.