The UK government has announced a package worth £1.57 billion in support of the country's cultural, arts and heritage sector.

Concern had been mounting heavily in the arts world in recent weeks at the potentially very serious and long-term impact on the sector of the forced closure of performance and other arts venues due to the pandemic. Several theatres and other venues had already announced redundancies and expressed great uncertainty about their ability to continue.

Today's announcement has been greeted positively, and with relief, by leading figures from across the sector. One of those, conductor Sir Simon Rattle, who had co-written a letter last month stressing the urgent need for support, said: 'Now that our survival is no longer at risk, we can start rebuilding our cultural life.'

According to the government's statement, the package 'represents the biggest ever one-off investment in UK culture,[and] will provide a lifeline to vital cultural and heritage organisations across the country hit hard by the pandemic. It will help them stay afloat while their doors are closed. Funding to restart paused projects will also help support employment, including freelancers working in these sectors.' 

The details, as outlined in the statement, include:

- £1.15 billion support pot for cultural organisations in England delivered through a mix of grants and loans. This will be made up of £270 million of repayable finance and £880 million grants.

- £100 million of targeted support for the national cultural institutions in England and the English Heritage Trust.

- £120 million capital investment to restart construction on cultural infrastructure and for heritage construction projects in England which was paused due to the coronavirus pandemic.

- An extra £188 million for the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland (£33 million), Scotland (£97 million) and Wales (£59 million).

The money will be accessible by organisations in 'performing arts and theatres, heritage, historic palaces, museums, galleries, live music and independent cinema'.

There was no so specific information about when performing arts venues will be able to reopen their doors to audiences, though the statement did add: 'The government is finalising guidance for a phased return of the performing arts sectors that will be published shortly. The government is working with the sectors to get it back up and running as soon as it is safe to do so and is being guided by medical experts.'

Among those from the music world who gave comments welcoming the statement was Mark Pemberton, Director of the Association of British Orchestras, who said: 'The ABO hugely welcomes the announcement of the government’s significant additional investment in the arts. Orchestras and their musicians have been hard-hit by the Covid-19 crisis, from the cancellation of tours to Asia in January, followed by the enforced shutdown of concert halls across the UK in March. With a year of lost income in prospect, this much-needed investment, and the guidance for reopening, will help get orchestras back to work, starting behind closed doors this summer, and on to the point when we can welcome audiences both here and abroad, we hope, later this year.'

Sir Simon Rattle, Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra, also said: 'This is wonderful news and a huge relief for us all. This generous investment is both enormously welcome and desperately needed.' 

He continued: 'We are an immensely interconnected industry, so it is important that these funds percolate from the grassroots up, so that the whole landscape can be nourished, and we hope it will be distributed as fast as possible. Preferably faster, as so many institutions and individual artists have been staring into the abyss.

'Let’s work together with the government and scientists to get everything up and running once more, and most importantly, to start performing to live audiences throughout the country. We can now focus on serving the entire community and celebrate the richness of our cultural heritage.'

Alex Beard, Chief Executive Royal Opera House, said: 'The Royal Opera House warmly welcomes the newly announced package of Government support for the arts sector. This is a vital next step on the road to recovery for the industry and will help to support and sustain the UK’s vibrant arts ecology through this crisis. There is much to achieve over the coming months and this package of support will be a catalyst for unlocking the extraordinary creativity embedded in the UK’s world-renowned creative industries.'