On 5 July 2020, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport announced the creation of a ‘Culture Recovery Fund’, designed as a rescue package for cultural and heritage organisations adversely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. One aspect of the Culture Recovery Fund’s mandate was to provide loans, on commercially advantageous terms, to organisations and companies operating in the cultural sector, which had exhausted other funding options and were clearly at risk of financial failure.
The Claimant, The Get Real Marketing Company Limited, challenged the refusal by the Culture Recovery Board, chaired by Sir Damon Buffini, of its application for a loan. The Claimant had co-founded, created and curated very well-known festivals such as Wilderness and Lovebox. This judicial review claim was the first against the Culture Recovery Board to proceed to a substantive hearing.
Stephen Kosmin successfully defended the Culture Recovery Board’s decision. On 13 May 2022, Richard Hermer KC, sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge, dismissed the claim and awarded the defendants all of their costs: see R (The Get Real Marketing Company Limited) v Culture Recovery Board and Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport [2022] EWHC 1137 (Admin).
