After distributing over half of the £500 million allocated for their Culture Recovery Fund, Arts Council England has reopened a relief package geared towards creative practitioners. As its name suggests, Developing your Creative Practice (DYCP) is meant to afford artists and performers opportunities to spend their down time during the COVID-19 pandemic honing their craft.
£18 million has been earmarked for the DYCP, which will be distributed over the next 12 months in four rounds. Grants range from £2,000-10,000, and a single applicant can request aid as many times as they want throughout the year (although they may sometimes be rejected).
Notably, Arts Council England have expanded their criteria to include DJs in their definition of “creative practicioner.” Also supported are arts and culture educators, community practitioners, movement directors, cultural conservators, creative enablers, and creative technicians. DYCP applicants now only need to have had one year of experience outside of an educational setting.
The expanded aid follows a controversial couple of weeks for U.K. lawmakers. Chancellor Rishi Sunak‘s remark during an ITV interview that some workers would need to “retrain and find new jobs” during the COVID-19 crisis elicited backlash from rival politicians and artists alike. The outcry prompted Sunak to reverse course and promise to expand on aid offered to businesses and workers.
More information on the Developing your Creative Practice fund can be found on the Arts Council England website.
Image credit: Brandon Erlinger-Ford
