Bridging Bursary

A fund for those individual artists and freelancers who have lost income from their creative work and/or practice due to COVID-19. Requests to the fund are now closed.

The Bridging Bursary Fund is now closed

Thank you to everyone who made a request to the Arts and Creative or the Screen Scotland funding programme. All requests have now been processed and responded to.


Overview

In the midst of the very serious personal and professional implications felt by all in the current environment, our first priority at Creative Scotland has been to do everything we can to help safeguard the future of the arts, screen and creative industries and provide funding and support which responds to the immediate impact of Covid-19.

As part of our Covid-19 response, on Friday 27 March we launched a Bridging Bursary Programme to provide financial support to individuals who are unable to sustain their creative work and practice in these extremely challenging times.

The Bridging Bursary Programme was in two strands:

  • £2m Creative Scotland Bridging Bursary Fund to help sustain freelance creative professionals who had lost earnings due to the cancelation of work as a result of COVID-19.
  • A parallel £1.5m Screen Scotland Bridging Bursary Fund for freelance or self-employed screen practitioners who had lost income from their work due to COVID-19.

Having launched the funds on Friday 27 March, both programmes were open for requests from Monday 30 March.

The Creative Scotland Bridging Bursary fund was paused on 2 April, and we gained additional funding from the Scottish Government and the Freelands Foundation (£1m each) and opened the fund for a second round of applications between Monday 20 April and Friday 25 April.

The Screen Scotland Bridging Bursary opened on Monday 30 March and closed on Wednesday 20 May.

Information on the Bridging Bursary awards

The below information relates to the Creative Scotland Bridging Bursary and Screen Scotland Bridging Bursary awards.

There were a total of 2,293 awards made, with a total value of £4,302,561. 80% of the total number of requests were approved in phase 1 and 2.

Funds have been made to people in every local authority area in Scotland.

Arts and Creative Bridging Bursary Awards by Local Authority Area

Local Authority Area

Requests

Value Requested

Requests Approved

Value Approved

Aberdeen City

28

£53,798

19

£36,148

Aberdeenshire

23

£45,430

15

£27,540

Angus

22

£46,868

20

£39,450

Argyll and Bute

21

£42,650

16

£31,400

Clackmannanshire

5

£8,400

3

£5,400

Dumfries and Galloway

39

£70,970

31

£57,720

Dundee City

46

£80,908

37

£61,908

East Ayrshire

13

£23,107

12

£21,107

East Dunbartonshire

17

£35,450

13

£25,250

East Lothian

36

£70,616

30

£56,566

East Renfrewshire

13

£23,750

12

£21,250

City of Edinburgh

445

£801,935

358

£640,069

Falkirk

17

£37,100

9

£17,900

Fife

73

£133,844

53

£95,844

Glasgow City

774

£1,350,932

689

£1,203,155

Highland

64

£119,330

56

£105,130

Inverclyde

12

£24,400

8

£12,900

Midlothian

25

£47,875

20

£37,375

Moray

12

£23,310

11

£20,810

Na h-Eileanan Siar

8

£14,430

6

£11,180

North Ayrshire

23

£41,700

17

£29,950

North Lanarkshire

30

£58,858

15

£26,258

Orkney Islands

8

£15,795

7

£13,295

Perth and Kinross

40

£74,915

26

£48,965

Renfrewshire

40

£70,600

25

£43,700

Scottish Borders

30

£55,660

25

£48,755

Shetland Islands

4

£7,900

4

£7,900

South Ayrshire

23

£36,640

17

£27,040

South Lanarkshire

54

£108,413

35

£71,490

Stirling

31

£58,137

26

£49,548

West Dunbartonshire

11

£16,300

7

£10,300

West Lothian

20

£35,550

14

£26,450

Outside Scotland

11

£21,701

1

£750

Total

2018

£3,657,272

1637

£2,932,503


Screen Bridging Bursary Awards by Local Authority Area

Local Authority Area

Requests

Value Requested

Requests Approved

Value Approved

Aberdeen City

1

£2,500

0

£0

Aberdeenshire

2

£1,800

2

£1,800

Angus

2

£4,500

2

£4,500

Argyll and Bute

10

£21,500

8

£17,550

Dumfries and Galloway

3

£7,500

3

£7,500

Dundee City

4

£6,600

3

£5,600

East Ayrshire

6

£12,800

4

£7,800

East Dunbartonshire

25

£56,000

20

£44,500

East Lothian

13

£28,850

7

£14,350

East Renfrewshire

20

£43,900

17

£39,000

City of Edinburgh

128

£259,418

101

£202,868

Falkirk

6

£12,200

3

£6,000

Fife

17

£36,771

14

£28,771

Glasgow City

380

£807,244

320

£673,969

Highland

10

£24,050

9

£21,050

Inverclyde

8

£16,400

8

£16,400

Midlothian

5

£11,140

2

£5,000

Moray

2

£5,000

2

£5,000

Na h-Eileanan Siar

6

£15,000

5

£12,500

North Ayrshire

2

£3,450

1

£1,250

North Lanarkshire

28

£57,150

26

£52,150

Perth and Kinross

12

£24,750

8

£16,250

Renfrewshire

30

£62,800

26

£55,000

Scottish Borders

6

£12,800

6

£12,800

South Ayrshire

9

£16,840

6

£12,000

South Lanarkshire

43

£92,400

31

£64,700

Stirling

13

£27,700

8

£15,700

West Dunbartonshire

7

£14,500

6

£12,000

West Lothian

8

£14,650

6

£11,550

Outside Scotland

7

£12,250

1

£2,500

Total

813

£1,712,463

655

£1,370,058


All awards from phase one have now been received by those requesting support.

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