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Scotland – Covid-19 Cancellation Fund for Creative Freelancers (CFCF)

What is the aim?
• To support creative freelancers who have lost income following the cancellation or postponement of work in the arts, screen and creative sectors that was due to take place in the period 27 November 2021 – 31 March 2022 as a consequence of COVID-19.

What is the nature of the top-up payment?
• This is a one off award.
• Funds are limited. The Scottish Government has allocated £8 million to this fund.
• It will be administered in 2 stages:
a) £4 million will be made available in January 2022.
b) The remaining £4 million be made available at a later date (not yet known).
• You can request between £500 and £2000 to help offset the financial impact of cancellation or deferral of your activity.

Who is administering the grant?
• Creative Scotland.

What is the eligibility criteria?
• The creative freelancer must be based and working in Scotland.
• Applicants can only apply to this fund once.
• You must have lost income following the cancellation or postponement of work in the arts, screen and creative sectors that was due to take place in the period 27 November 2021 – 31 March 2022 as a consequence of COVID-19.
• You must work within one of the following creative areas: Creative Learning, Dance, Design, Digital, Literature, Music, Theatre, Visual Arts, Children and Young People, Place and Communities, Traditional Arts, Gaelic Language, Gaelic Culture, Scots, Arts and Health/Wellbeing, Equalities, Diversity, and Inclusion, Interdisciplinary Performance.
• Eligibility can include (but is not limited to) a visual artist, a writer or maker of poetry, prose or fiction, a playwright, actor or theatre maker, a comedian, dancer, musician, craft maker, designer, screen production creative freelancer, a theatre producer, a lighting designer, a gig promoter, an independent curator or creative producer.

Who cannot access these funds?
• Those who have an employment contract within the arts, screen and creative sector and who have been made redundant because of the impact of COVID-19, or those employed on zero-hours contracts who have been offered no work because of the impact of COVID-19.
• Those who have accessed funding through other Scottish Government Covid-19 support funds for other sectors such as, for example, hospitality, wedding sector supply chain, Wholesalers affected by hospitality cancellations and the Tourism sector.
What is the application process?
• The fund will open to online applications at 2pm on Thursday 6 January 2022.
• To make an application, go to Creative Scotland’s online application portal: https://my.creativescotland.com/.
• You will need to create your own account – although if you have previously applied to Creative Scotland for funding since August 2021 and have already used the online portal, then you should be registered and can use your existing account. If you haven’t, then go to https://my.creativescotland.com/signup to register a new account.
• You can register your account in advance of 6th January 2022 but you will not be able to submit your application before that time.
• When you apply, you will be asked to select your art form or creative sector and supply Creative Scotland with your CV.
• You then be required to upload evidence that demonstrates that you have lost work as a result of COVID-19 during the period 27 November 2021 to 31 March 2022. This can be in the form of pictures/screen grabs of contracts or correspondence (emails, texts etc.) but it needs to evidence a firm commitment to engage you during this period AND provide evidence of the event cancellation or deferral.
• The aim is to notify all applicants of their decision within 20 working days of submission of the request
• The contact details if there is any problem with the application process is:
Email: enquiries@creativescotland.com
Twitter: Send us a tweet@creativescots

If you wish to discuss Covid-19 CFCF or any other issues, please do contact us.