Round 2 of our Hardship Fund distributed

Round 2 of our Covid-19 Hardship Fund has now been distributed, providing short-term relief to freelancers whose income has been severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and who as a result are struggling to make ends meet.

Museum Freelance was awarded a £7,500 grant from a charitable trust that wishes to remain anonymous, to provide emergency support for freelancers who work with museums, heritage sites, galleries, archives and libraries in the UK and who haven’t been eligible for the Government’s Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). We partnered up with the Museums Association to facilitate the receipt and distribution of the grant.

We received 40 applications and undertook an anonymised and randomised draw to select 15 applicants to receive the grants live on Zoom in early January 2021 with representatives from the Museums Association. The Museums Association have since distributed 15 £500 grants to the recipients.

This is the second round of the Hardship Fund – the first was distributed in September 2020, also funded by the charitable trust with support from the Museums Association. We are very grateful to both organisations for this much-needed support for freelancers in our sector.