Redirect ACE’s Cultural Recovery Funds towards helping independent organisations & artists

Following the recent emissions of Arts Council England's grants to a number of Club Culture organisations (even digital) such as Resident Advisor (£750K), Village Underground (£398K), Paradigm Agency (£967K), Fabric (£1.5 Million), Crack Magazine (£125,320), Ransom Note (£50,000), Boiler Room (£791K), Ministry of Sound (£975K), Mission Mars (£1 Million), and many others that operate in our sector, as part of ACE's Emergency Relief Fund Organisation (Non NPO) and/or Culture Recovery Fund, we would like to point out that according to us, ACE's Senior Managers should be more aware to whom they give public money to, and how they have been used. This without even mentioning the fact that most of those organisations, have all greatly benefitted from:

- The Job Retention Schemes;
- The launch of subscription services;
- Public donations;
- Selling items/products (even new ones created during these challenging times);
- Corporate Sponsorship Deals;
- Charging for services that were meant to help artists and those working in the sector, such as live-streams, editorial coverages, marketing space/s on their websites/magazines;
- Low Paid/Unpaid Staff Members/Interns;
- Selling tickets (and charging booking fees) to plague raves around the world.
Let’s not forget about the numerous cover-ups in regards to sexual assaults, money laundering, cultural appropriations, and other, terrible issues, that have negatively impacted the sector for more than a decade.

Some organizations who got granted financial support, also benefited from the sale of some of their assets for huge sums.
We are aware of a vast number of independent organisations, and artists, who could not/did not receive any type of financial support because their applications to ACE, or other national funding pots, were rejected because they didn't meet the eligible criteria.

The ACE should have prioritised those organisations and professionals who were not eligible for support, or were not carrying any forms of fundraise, donations, subscriptions, or else, most of which have not been used appropriately, as those organisations who did receive personal donations, operated on profit based margins.

We ask ACE to review some of the strategies/criteria implemented and the money being granted to various, doubtful, organisations, and work with leading, not-for-profit, independent agency World Club Culture Organization, who solely focuses on Club Culture, at all levels, to redirect those grants who have been already emitted and develop a better and more equal strategy for supporting those at urgent need, who haven’t been able to receive any kind of support so far.