Building Closures – Coronavirus / COVID-19 Update
As of midnight on Monday 23rd March, all of our buildings were closed to public and tenants until further notice, following government directive.
We take the health and safety of our tenants, staff and partners very seriously and have been reviewing our preparedness to ensure we can continue to deliver the most effective service and support our tenants and staff during this time. Please be mindful we are receiving a large number of enquiries, and as this is a very complex and ever changing situation, please bear with us as we may take longer to respond than usual.
We hope to welcome you back to our gallery spaces and studio buildings soon, but in the meantime join us on social media where we intend to share some of the incredible work our tenants make, and invite you to support artists and small businesses in these unprecedented times.
We will continue to monitor the situation and update on our social media and website if there are any changes. Please remember the current situation is constantly evolving, to find up-to-date information on the situation in Scotland please visit The Scottish Government website.
Tenants: find out how Wasps' response to the Coronavirus pandemic affects you as a Wasps tenant here.
We have set up a new dedicated inbox for you to get in touch with us: CoronavirusHelpdesk@waspsstudios.org.uk.
Useful Links
This is an incredibly complex and fast moving situation and we understand this is a worrying time for many artists, freelance workers, small businesses and more. We have pulled together some useful links to give you advice and guidance:
The Scottish Government's Coronavirus Advice
NHS Inform
The UK Government's Coronavirus Action Plan
Craft Scotland's Guide for Makers
Creative Scotland's Coronavirus Advice
Citizen's Advice Scotland: what Coronavirus means for you
Independent Arts Project: Links and Advice
SCVO: how can we keep our organisation running?
IPSE: advice for freelancers and the self-employed
The Money Advice Service: employment, sick-pay and benefits
Mind: Coronavirus and your wellbeing
OSCR: updates from the regulator
Scottish Enterprise - Coronavirus business continuity advice
XpoNorth: Coronavirus Resources
SCA-N example letter for MPs: Support for freelance and self-employed during Coronavirus outbreak
Visual Arts Scotland's Friday Forum
Make Manifesto - Resources, Advice and Commissions
Funding Opportunities and Financial Help
The UK Government have recently launched a helpful and easy-to-use tool to help you find what financial support your business might be eligible for. You can find it here.
You can find more information on UK Government financial support available for self-employed here. You can use their new online tool to check your eligibility for this support here.
For small businesses, the Scottish Government's Find Business Support website contains the latest updates on funding, business support and Government action: www.findbusinesssupport.gov.scot
You can find more information on UK Government financial support available for businesses here. The Scottish Government small business helpline is 0300 303 0660.
As of 2pm Thursday 30 April, the Scottish Government's additional £100m fund for businesses impacted by COVID-19 is open for applications in three distinct funds:
The Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund is a £45m fund for viable but vulnerable SMEs who are vital to Scotland's economy. This fund is now closed.
The Creative, Tourism & Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund is a £20m fund for small creative, tourism and hospitality companies not in receipt of COVID-19 business rates relief. This fund is now closed.
The Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund is a £35m fund for the newly self-employed facing hardship, awarding £2,000 grants.
Creative Scotland's £4m Bridging Bursary fund is for those individual artists and freelancers who have lost income from their creative work and/or practice due to Covid-19. You can find more information here. This fund is now closed.
Creative Scotland's Open Fund: Sustaining Creative Development is set up to focus support on helping individuals and organisations to sustain themselves throughout this crisis. More information here.
Visual Arts Scotland have launched the second round of their Emergency Art Workers Fund, awarding grants of £250 to support freelance creative practitioners. More information here. This fund is now closed.
The £20m Third Sector Resilience Fund is there to support organisations across the third sector who are at risk of closure due to the disruption caused by Coronavirus, delivered by Firstport, Social Investment Scotland and the Corra Foundation. You can find more information, via SCVO, here.
The Charities Aid Foundation has allocated £5 million to fund an emergency grant programme to support charities affected by the impact of Covid-19. You can find more information here. Applications to this fund are currently paused.
Foundation Scotland have launched a response and resilience fund to support local charities and grassroots organisations across Scotland. More information is here.
The National Lottery Awards for All is open to voluntary or community organisations that will support people at high risk, will see an increased demand in this period, or that have high potential to support communities with the impact of Covid-19. More information here.
For free and impartial money advice, including advice for self-employed, information on benefits and more, contact The Money Advice Service on 0800 138 7777, or see more information here.
The Scottish Government Wellbeing Fund is open to public bids & charities, social enterprises, voluntary organisations & community groups are being invited to express an interest via SCVO Third Sector Info Hub. More info here. This fund is now closed.
Jamhot are running a Freelancer Support Fund - 5 x £200 payments available to any creative / design freelancers currently struggling and in need of a little extra support. Email studio@thisisjamhot.com for more information.
Edinburgh Prinmakers is offering support to 4 artists at any stage in their careers to research and develop new digital projects. The selected artists will each be awarded a remote 4 week residency and a bursary of £500 to experiment with digital technologies and new art forms. More info here.
Opportunities and Commissions
The new Royal Scottish Academy Award 'Pandemic - A Response to COVID-19' provides eight artists each with a monetary award of £2,500 to research, develop and produce new work which reflects their personal response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The deadline for this award has now passed.
Cove Park is looking to commission five artists to create activity sheets or packs that can be downloaded online and used as the starting point for creative activities by children & young people. The deadline for this commission has now passed.
Starcatchers is offering commissions of £1,000 for early years artists in Scotland to connect with and inspire young children (aged 0-5) when face-to-face engagement is not possible. The deadline for this commission has now passed.
Cryptic Nights is an annual open call for emerging, Scotland-based artists to develop existing music, sound and digital works within a visual context, with support and mentoring from Cryptic. More information here.
Isolation Art School on Instagram is a creative community producing projects, lessons and tips by artists to help people get creative while staying home during the COVID-19 crisis. View here.
Lux Scotland, BBC and Screen Scotland's Now & Next scheme provides a unique opportunity for emerging artists living, working and studying in Scotland to produce new audio and video works for BBC platforms. The scheme will commission 20 new pieces of content, comprising 15 audio-visual and 5 audio only content. More information here.
Paisley Art Institute will be presenting their 132nd Annual Exhibition online this year, creating a virtual space to showcase new work by members and non-members alike in all media. Find more information on entry details here.
Tribe Yoga and Kauai are looking for artwork and products from local artists to sell in their venues alongside their offer. If you would like to take part please contact James Wilson here.
Curator Space is a course and workshop listing platform which we built to let artists and arts professionals move their 'in real life' courses online and list them for free during the pandemic. Find out more here.
COVID-19 Impact Surveys
SCA-N are collating information on behalf of the visual arts community in Scotland on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic to help them get as wide a picture as we can as they advocate and build awareness. More information here.
Completing the Culture Counts survey will help the team to communicate the needs of the sector due to the impact of Covid-19 (Coronavirus), to decision-makers in government and in parliament. More information here.
Scottish Artists Union are calling for members to add their voice to their 'Artists Safety Net' survey. Log in and find more information here.
Last update: 2 June, 15:24.