The Government has revealed the music clubs, arts venues and orchestras in line for a share of £257million to help them survive the coronavirus crisis.
Liverpool’s famous Cavern Club, Bristol’s Old Vic theatre and the London Symphony Orchestra are among more than 1,300 arts venues and organisations to receive up to £1 million in funding.
The first list of recipients includes venues and organisations who applied for less than £1 million – with future releases of up to £3 million going to larger organisations.
It is part of the Government’s £1.6 billion Culture Recovery Fund, and will “protect these special places” which “form the soul of our nation”, said Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden.
The funding will help performances to restart, assist venues to plan for reopening, protect jobs and create freelance opportunities, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. (DCMS) said.
According to the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), those to benefit from the cash injection include the following:
- Finborough Theatre, London – £59,574. Founded in 1980 above a pub in Earl’s Court, it helped launch the careers of international stars like Rachel Weisz and Jack Thorne, who co-wrote Harry Potter And The Cursed Child.
- Halle Concerts Society, Manchester – £740,000 will support the organisation to livestream fortnightly concerts from the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester.
- Royal Liverpool Philharmonic – £748,000 will help the orchestra provide a short, socially-distanced programme, all of which will be recorded to stream online.
- London Symphony Orchestra – £846,000 to help begin a phased return to full-scale performance.
- Wigmore Hall, London – £1 million to sustain the future of this international centre for chamber music and song.
- Cavern Club, Liverpool – £525,000 will fund the recording of local musicians’ live performances, which will be streamed digitally to provide opportunities for local artists and technicians at the club which launched The Beatles.
- National Maritime Museum Cornwall, Falmouth – £485,000 to sustain the future of the museum which promotes Cornwall’s maritime heritage.
- Exeter Northcott Theatre, Exeter – £183,399.
- Beamish Living Museum of the North, Co Durham – £970,000 to support the business through the winter.
- Royal Academy of Dance, London – £606,366.
- Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield – £804,013.
- Hackney Empire, London – £585,064.
- Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, Lake District – £878,492 to support the theatre – one of the biggest employers in the area – to help cover losses as a result of coronavirus.
- Birmingham Royal Ballet – £500,000 to help off-set loss of earnings from performances and touring.
- Bristol Old Vic Theatre – £610,466 to help transform the business of the oldest continuous working theatre in the English language, where Daniel Day Lewis began his career.
- Young Vic, London – £961,455 to help it partially open between October and March, remotely operating its directors programme and its outreach activities with local communities.
- Storyhouse, Chester, Cheshire – £730,252 to help open the building safely and put performances on.
- Curve, Leicester – £950,000 to help with plans to reopen the theatre..
- Lighthouse, Poole – £987,964 to help this multi-artform venue and home to Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra remain sustainable with a phased programme of reopening.
- Wiltshire Creative (which runs Salisbury Playhouse, Salisbury Festival and Salisbury Arts Centre) – £446,968.
- Grimm & Co, Rotherham, Yorkshire – £86,000 to help the literacy charity survive in order to provide support for children with creativity and writing.
- Theatre Peckham, London – £150,000 to help deliver Covid-secure classes for its pipeline of young talent and provide support for freelance artists.
- The Brudenell, Leeds – £220,429 to host a free weekly event as well as stream events.