Whitechapel Gallery in London has received a grant of £206,332 from the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund to help the organisation recover and reopen.
More than £300 million has been awarded to thousands of cultural organisations across the country including Whitechapel Gallery in the latest round of support from the Culture Recovery Fund, the Culture Secretary announced today.
This award will help assure Whitechapel Gallery’s future sustainability by reflating its financial reserves, which have been significantly impacted by continued income losses during prolonged lockdown.
“Whitechapel Gallery is hugely grateful to the Culture Recovery Fund, and the vital support this award provides to assure the Gallery’s future sustainability by repleting its reserves, significantly impacted by continued income losses during a prolonged lockdown. Whitechapel Gallery is now able to confidently plan its safe re-opening in May 2021 with an exceptional new programme of exhibitions and education events to inspire, uplift and crucially support our collective recovery”.
Whitechapel Gallery Director, Iwona Blazwick
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.
“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.”
Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair, Arts Council England
About Whitechapel Gallery
For over a century the Whitechapel Gallery has premiered world-class artists from modern masters such as Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Frida Kahlo and Hannah Höch to contemporaries such as Zarina Bhimji, Sophie Calle, William Kentridge, Eduardo Paolozzi and Michael Rakowitz. Its historic campus houses exhibitions, artist commissions, collection displays, historic archives, education resources, inspiring art courses, talks and film screenings, the Townsend dining room and the Koenig Bookshop. It is a touchstone for contemporary art internationally, plays a central role in London’s cultural landscape and is pivotal to the continued growth of the world’s most vibrant contemporary art quarter.
