The 100 Club receives lifeline grant from Government’s £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund
The 100 Club has been awarded £491,486 as part of the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) to help face the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and to ensure they have a sustainable future, the Culture Secretary has announced today.
The 100 Club is one of 1,385 cultural and creative organisations across the country receiving urgently needed support. £257 million of investment has been announced today as part of the very first round of the Culture Recovery Fund grants programme being administered by Arts Council England. Further rounds of funding in the cultural and heritage sector are due to be announced over the coming weeks.
The 100 Club has been at 100 Oxford Street since 1964 and actually opened as a venue during World War II in 1942 as the Feldman Swing Club. It underwent many changes of name before settling on the ‘100 Club’ after its location at 100 Oxford St. The owner at the time, Roger Horton, wanted to take the word ‘jazz’ out of the title for the first time to reflect the more eclectic music policy he envisaged, and which remains today. The 100 Club (and its predecessor) has been at the heart of Westminster’s Community for almost 80 years and is the longest running venue on the planet. It’s become a centre of culture in the area with its varied programming which includes poetry, spoken word and comedy nights as well as the full raft of musical genres. Audiences have traditionally come from all backgrounds whether that be social, racial, financial or age. People have met their future partners and best friends here and have shared experiences that will last a lifetime. Quite a few have come back to celebrate anniversaries too! This funding allows us in the immediate term to provide security to all our staff. Bar persons, security, sound engineers, programmers, in house promoters, social media and marketing, our team can now at least have one less thing to worry about as they have job security for the foreseeable future. We plan to roil out a series of ‘test’ events in the coming weeks for socially distanced shows. We did one last Friday with Talk Show, which was a huge success. This award means that we can now pay bands the going rate for a socially distanced event, something that was impossible before this funding.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said:
“This funding is a vital boost for the theatres, music venues, museums and cultural organisations that form the soul of our nation. It will protect these special places, save jobs and help the culture sector’s recovery.
“These places and projects are cultural beacons the length and breadth of the country. This unprecedented investment in the arts is proof this government is here for culture, with further support to come in the days and weeks ahead so that the culture sector can bounce back strongly.”
Chair, Arts Council England, Sir Nicholas Serota, said:
“Theatres, museums, galleries, dance companies and music venues bring joy to people and life to our cities, towns and villages. This life-changing funding will save thousands of cultural spaces loved by local communities and international audiences. Further funding is still to be announced and we are working hard to support our sector during these challenging times.”
Jeff Horton, Owner of the 100 Club said:
This funding gives us a real fighting chance of surviving this current crisis, gives all of our staff security and will make a major contribution in allowing the 100 Club to be visited by future generations.