Scotland’s culture sector has been given £20 million of emergency funding.

First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon announced the intervention as part of almost £100 million in Scottish Government relief for those sectors worst hit by the latest wave of the pandemic.

Creative Scotland, the public body that supports the sector and which distributes funding from the Scottish Government and The National Lottery, said in a statement: “We very much welcome the additional £20m in emergency funding for Scotland’s culture sector confirmed today by the First Minister.

“With the Omicron variant creating new challenges for creative organisations and everyone working in culture in Scotland, this funding will help mitigate some of that impact.

“We are working as a matter of urgency with Scottish Government officials to determine how this funding will be made available and will say more on that as soon as we are able.”

Fiona Hyslop.

The Scottish Government’s Culture Secretary, Fiona Hyslop said: “Culture is vitally important to all of our lives, and the Scottish Government is determined to do everything within our powers to see the sector through this crisis.

“This includes providing financial support to our flagship cultural venues, as well as the work already under way to help smaller organisations and individuals within the culture sector.

“This latest funding announcement brings the Scottish Government’s total Covid-19 support package for our culture and heritage sectors to just under £98 million.

“We know further support will still be needed, and the major issues presented by the pandemic are not going away, which is why we will continue to work in partnership with the sector to support them to not only survive the pandemic but to thrive in future.”