£400m pledged to help more than 2,700 arts, culture and heritage organisations

2 April 2021, 00:05

£400 million pounds will be offered to more than 2,700 arts, heritage and culture organisations in order to help them survive the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 2,700 organisations are being offered grants and loans in the latest announcement.

Around £300 million in grants have been awarded to recipients including Glastonbury, the National Football Museum and Bamburgh Castle.

More than £170 million in loans has been offered to organisations including the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: "Our record-breaking Culture Recovery Fund has already helped thousands of culture and heritage organisations across the country survive the biggest crisis they've ever faced.

"Now we're staying by their side as they prepare to welcome the public back through their doors - helping our cultural gems plan for reopening and (to) thrive in the better times ahead."

Recipients of new loans will include the English Heritage Trust, The Lowry and The Sage Gateshead.

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A further £6.5 million has been awarded to independent cinemas, including £138,333 for East Finchley's Phoenix Cinema, Britain's oldest cinema in continuous use and where Dame Judi Dench is a patron.

Dame Judi said: "Local cinemas are a vital part of our cultural lives, enthralling us with films about lives that we recognise as well as offering us stories about other cultures from around the world.

"They are places where people come together for a shared experience and have inspired many to make their careers on screen. We need to make sure that generations today and in the future have the same opportunities to enjoy and take part in the communal big screen experience."

Grants worth almost £60 million have been awarded to help theatres, from the West End's Criterion Theatre to the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, plan for reopening.

Museums, including the London Transport Museum and the National Football Museum in Manchester, receive a total of more than £25 million in this latest round of funding.

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Brighton venue Komedia, the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds and the Camden Roundhouse are among comedy clubs and music venues receiving funding.

Dame Julie Walters, Stephen Fry and Hugh Bonneville were also among those to welcome the funding.

Charlestown Harbour, a Unesco World Heritage Site and filming location for Poldark, has been awarded £109,500 to help the site survive.

The announcement brings the Government's total investment across grants, capital and repayable finance from the Culture Recovery Fund so far to more than £1.2 billion across over 5,000 individual cultural and heritage organisations and sites.

Charity Theatres Trust welcomed further help for theatres in England, with director Jon Morgan saying: "Theatres have had to remain closed for far longer than anyone could have anticipated, so quite rightly there are theatre organisations receiving additional grants in recognition of that.

"Before the pandemic hit, theatres played an important role in communities everywhere. More than 34 million people attend theatres in the UK each year, generating £1.28 billion in ticket revenue.

"It is crucial to the social, cultural and economic wellbeing of the country that our theatres survive this crisis and can contribute to its recovery. It is therefore important that theatres continue to receive support until they can reopen viably."