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JAM | Jan 17, 2022

Entertainment Ministry closes applications for COVID-19 grants

Juanique Tennant

Juanique Tennant / Our Today

Reading Time: < 1 minute
Olivia Grange

Following an oversubscription of COVID-19 grants being offered by the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport to members of the Entertainment, Culture and Creative Industries (ECCI), the ministry has announced it will no longer be accepting new applications.

The ministry had previously announced the opening of applications for its ECCI COVID-19 Grants on December 17, 2021, and has since then received some 1,400 applications.

These applications have accounted for a wide cross-section of the Entertainment, Culture and Creative Industries practitioners, including sound system operators, musicians, singers, sound engineers, stagehands, film and video producers.

Speaking on the ECCI COVID-19 grants programme, Entertainment Minister Olivia Grange stated: “We anticipated about 1,000 applications for the individual grants of $60,000 each to members of the entertainment, culture and creative industries.  

“We’ve had a very good response in a very short time and we have now surpassed our target for applications.”

Noting that some 500 applicants would have received their payout by Wednesday (January 19), Grange indicated that, provided the remaining applicants have met the criteria, their grants would also be awarded in short order.

The award of individual grants is being funded by a support package for entertainment, culture, and creative industries practitioners in the sum of $90 million. The special support package is also expected to benefit organisations within the industries sectors, details of which will be announced by the minister at a later date.  

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