New Support Announced for Musicians in Wales

Over the last week, the Welsh Government have made a few announcements that are likely to help our members and businesses. These include:

• New funding schemes run with the Arts Council Wales. This includes an Urgent Response Fund – more details will be announced on this soon, and we’ll be keeping members updated.
• A Grassroots Music Relief Fund from Creative Wales, which includes funding specifically for staff and suppliers.

Grateful that concerns were listened to

MU Regional Organiser for Wales and South West England welcomed the news:

“There’s still work to be done on clarifying the details for some of the Covid-19 support schemes in Wales, but I hope that the additional support announced over the last week will help our members and businesses across the creative and cultural industries in Wales to get through the current crisis.

“I’m grateful to Welsh Government, Creative Wales, and the Arts Council of Wales for listening to the concerns raised by Trade Unions and considering how to support individual workers, and I’d like thank my colleagues at BECTU, Equity, Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, and the Wales TUC for their ongoing help in engaging the Welsh Government on these issues.”

For more information on what the Welsh Government are doing to support the music industry, including schemes that are applicable to individuals and small businesses, see our Government Measures for the Music Industry page.

No musician left behind

Although the moves from UK governments to protect workers during the coronavirus outbreak have been good news for many of our members – it is vital that no musicians are left to fall through the cracks.

We are concerned about the self-employed musicians who are not covered by the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, and also how the Government will cover the gap until support is made available in June.

Join us and take action now