Final round of Culture Recovery Fund sees further £35 million awarded across England

The final round of the government’s Culture Recovery Fund has seen a further £35 million awarded to 340 organisations across England.

Since August 2020, the Culture Recovery Fund has distributed £1.57 billion to around 5,000 organisations and sites across the country, including theatres, museums, and independent cinemas, to help them recover from the impact of the pandemic. This included £36 million in last year’s round two.

These have included Harrogate International Festivals, which received a grant of £80,000 to continue delivering cultural festivals, such as the Harrogate Music Festival, a £185,000 grant for Corsica Studios in central London, and £60,000 for the Wedgewood Rooms, an independent music venue in Southsea, Portsmouth.

£1.35 million has also protected jobs at The Piece Hall in Halifax, while £130,000 has been awarded to Aerospace Bristol, and almost £200,000 has gone to The Sussex Archaeological Society.

Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive, Historic England, said:

“This final round of government funding has supported a range of important heritage organisations across the country, including The Piece Hall in Yorkshire. These places offer people with unparalleled ways of understanding the past, the history of their area, and the great outdoors and are of great importance for our post-pandemic recovery. Helping them to continue to recover and thrive into the future will provide long-lasting benefits to communities across the country.”

Other grants included a £45,000 emergency grant for Plymouth Arts Cinema, Plymouth’s only independent cinema, to help it continue its programme of international and UK independent films and offer cheaper tickets to those out of employment, students, those attending Relaxed screenings, and asylum seekers and refugees, and almost £130,000 for The Regal at Stowmarket to complete its refurbishment and enable it to offer an expanded programme to local communities.

Ben Roberts, Chief Executive, BFI said:

“Every penny of the Culture Recovery Fund including over £500k in this final round of funding to independent cinemas across the country has been vital to their survival, enabling them to recover and welcome back their audiences. As well as bringing people together to experience the magic of experiencing film on the big screen, local cinemas are hubs for educational and film activities and provide thousands of jobs contributing to regeneration and local economies.”

from UK Fundraising https://ift.tt/XY5zLeI