Screen Hardship Fund

This fund is to support freelance screen practitioners working in all parts of Scotland’s screen sector and commercial photographers who are experiencing immediate financial hardship.

Applications closed

Applications for both the Hardship Fund for Creative Freelancers and the Screen Hardship Fund have now closed, as all of the available funds have been allocated.

About the fund

The Scottish Government has committed £17m through Screen Scotland and Creative Scotland for creative freelancers who are experiencing hardship due to lost income from work and/or practice in the creative sector due to COVID-19. £8m was administered between October 2020 and February 2021. A further £9m is to be administered in March 2021.

For this latest round, as well as supporting new applicants, previous recipients of the fund who have been awarded funding can also apply again for a further award of up to £2k.

Please note: Those working in the creative sector but not specifically in screen or photography should apply to the Creative Scotland Hardship Fund which is open at the same time as this fund.

More information

This fund has been provided by Scottish Government to support freelance screen practitioners working in all parts of Scotland’s screen sector, with the addition of audio/visual content producers and professional photographers (whose work does not have to be specific to the screen sector), who are experiencing immediate financial hardship due to the loss of income as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This fund offers a bursary to those who are most deeply impacted and disadvantaged by the cancellation of work due to the pandemic. The overriding priorities for this programme are to retain a vital workforce within Scotland’s screen sector which is at risk as a result of COVID-19 and to offer support to those who have been unable to access direct support to date.

This includes practitioners who operate using a personal service company (PSC) or ‘loan-out’ type structure, sole traders and PAYE freelancers.

Contact

If you need more information, please contact our Enquiries Service using one of the methods outlined on the Creative Scotland Contact Us page.