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Second Floor Studio and Arts

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Loan fund prompts entrepreneurial response

£3m has so far been loaned to arts organisations to develop commercial enterprises that will improve their resilience and achieve long-term financial sustainability.

Liz Hill
2 min read

The trend for using commercial activity to support artistic work is growing as arts organisations of all sizes across a range of art forms have been applying for loans to help them become more financially resilient.

Nearly 100 organisations have applied to the £7m Arts Impact Fund to invest in commercial ventures such as cinemas, restaurants and Intellectual Property licensing businesses to subsidise their work. Thus far, more than £3m of unsecured loan finance at affordable interest rates has been shared by eight organisations that are planning to use a cross subsidy model to finance their activities.

The Fund brings together public, private and philanthropic investment from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Nesta and Arts Council England, with additional funding from the UK branch of Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

Recipients of the loans are required to document their artistic, social and financial impact quarterly throughout the period of the loan.

The first three organisations to be given the loans shared £1.1m in April 2016, and they are now joined by five more:

  • Autograph Media, to set up a commercial image licensing business specialising in race and cultural diversity.
  • London School of Mosaics, to refurbish a property in Lewisham to create a venue for a new mosaic-focused education programme
  • Live Theatre, to launch a commercial hospitality venture
  • Second Floor Studio and Arts, to buy and develop new artists' studios – The Deptford Foundry – in South East London
  • Soho Theatre, to set up a digital content subsidiary that will film comedy content and licence it to broadcasters, digital platforms and distributors

Francesca Sanderson, Head of Arts Investments and Programmes at Nesta, speaking on behalf of the Arts Impact Fund, said: “The latest Arts Impact Fund investees point to the sector’s strong entrepreneurial spirit, and a desire for organisations to build their resilience through boosting their balance sheets and diversifying their revenues. We hope our investments will help the sector to grow its artistic and social impact on people and communities.”