Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotheram has announced a £400k package of funding to provide immediate support to the city’s Music, Film and TV industries.
It is part of a wider package of support that will be announced later this week.
Two key funds have been created to provide urgent support for creative businesses: The Music Fund will provide up to £10,000 of grant or loan funding to support micro-businesses and SMEs in the sector and help “futureproof them for the longer-term”; and The Film and TV Development Fund will provide investments of up to £25,000 per project to support the development of “ambitious and distinctive content” across feature film and TV genres.
Rotheram said: “It is absolutely vital that we do everything we can to protect and preserve our Music, Film and TV industries. They are at the beating heart of our city region’s very identity and are responsible for 5,000 jobs, contributing £228million to our economy every year in normal times.
“We have not received extra money direct from government to support them, but my team at the Combined Authority has worked incredibly hard with our partners to identify funds that were ear-marked for projects later in the year and brought them forward to make them available right now, when they are so urgently needed by the sector.
“Our aim is to support our businesses in this key sector to weather this storm, and to develop some of the brilliant ideas that we will need to shine a spotlight on the city region and get this vital sector back to full health, as we recover from the coronavirus crisis.”
Michael Eakin, Chair of the LCR Music Board who will oversee the Music Fund, said: “This is a very welcome injection of investment into a sector which, like so many others, is really struggling.
“Small amounts of investment will ensure the survival of some of the crucial businesses and individuals who help make up the amazing ecology of our music sector, and will put us in a good place to bounce back strongly once this challenging moment is over.”
Lynn Saunders, Head of the Liverpool Film Office, which will oversee the Film and TV Development Fund, added: “Film and TV projects delivered over £17m of investment into the Liverpool City Region last year.
“With filming now shut down across the UK, it’s vital that we provide targeted, fast-tracked development support to the producers, writers and other creative talent whose ideas and scripts will be the bedrock for the recovery of our regional production sector later in the year.”
Both funds are open for applications from today.
