The English Folk Dance and Song Society (Registered Charity number 305999), along with so many other arts, cultural and heritage organisations, is facing exceptionally uncertain times.
We have lost nearly all of our expected income from what would have been a busy programme of gigs celebrating the 90th birthday of Cecil Sharp House in June 2020.
Our everyday charitable work is hugely subsidised by hiring out Cecil Sharp House when it is not being used for folk activities. Nearly all of this expected income for 2020/21 has also been lost.
Suddenly, our planned break-even budget is projected to become a giant loss by April 2021. And this is assuming that many events will be running again from January.
The summer announcement of £1.5billion rescue funding to the cultural sector was greatly welcomed. But it seems that we do not fit the criteria for any of these support schemes, because we are not in imminent danger of insolvency. We have not yet spent all of the reserves which we had carefully built up over the years, and which we now have to use to cover our monthly losses.
We predict being in a much-weakened financial position when we are finally able to resume in full. But, with your support, we will continue to undertake the work that we know people want and need – and for which the English Folk Dance and Song Society exists.
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