Scottish culture secretary Angus Robertson has revealed details of a further £65m fund to support Scottish cultural businesses, organisations and events during the pandemic.

The funding package will see the events sector receive £19.8m, freelancers £10m, and £31.5m spent on cultural businesses, organisations, venues and independent cinemas.

In addition, museums, galleries and heritage sites will receive £1.7m, while £2m will go towards the five Scottish national performing companies (Scottish Ballet, Scottish Opera, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the National Theatre of Scotland).

Robertson said, “These additional funds will help protect the livelihoods of the people working in the sector – and allow us to give further support to freelancers, culture organisations, venues and our national performing companies.”

VisitScotland director of events Paul Bush said, “EventScotland is currently working with the Scottish Government and the Event Industry Advisory Group to determine the best way of distributing the funding to ensure we get support to those in need across the sector, and details on this will be shared shortly.”

Funds worth £27m for culture and £17m for events were announced by the Scottish First Minister on 29 December. This was additional to the £20m of business support funding for culture and events that first minister announced on 14 December.

Creative Scotland’s Cancellation Fund for creative freelancers opens for applications on 6 January.

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