A number of South Devon organisations have benefitted from the government’s Culture Recovery Fund, receiving over £500,000 in total.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport has made £1.57 billion of support available to support the cultural sector during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Culture Recovery Fund aims to make sure that arts and culture organisations, museums and heritage sites can weather the storm of coronavirus and come back even stronger. Organisations across these sectors have been encouraged to apply for funding designed to support the cultural sector’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cultural Recovery Fund: Grants
More than £250 million is being split between 1385 cultural organisations including theatres and music venues. Locally, the following organisations have received funding:
Ways With Words (Dartington) - £117,361
Soundart Radio (Totnes) - £50,000.
The Barrel House Ballroom (Totnes) - £51,600
Cultural Recovery Fund for Heritage
A £92 million Cultural Recovery Fund for Heritage is being distributed by Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund to support heritage organisations.
Here in South Devon, the following organisations have been awarded grants:
Pilgrim Heritage Sailing Foundation (Brixham) - £38,000
St Mary’s Church (Totnes) - £83,100
The Sharpham Trust (near Totnes) - £98,300
Two Brothers Fishing Limited (Brixham) - £10,000.
Anthony took the opportunity to visit St Mary’s church to learn how the funding will help keep the building open as much as possible over the next 6 months, allow fundraising to continue and enable the church to live stream high quality content.
Heritage stimulus fund
Heritage sites are also set to benefit from a £34 million Heritage Stimulus Fund which aims to restart conservation and maintenance, distributed by Historic England. The following local heritage sites have been awarded grants to help preserve the attractions and protect livelihoods of specialists in the sector:
Dartmouth Castle - £6,320
St Andrew’s Church (South Huish, near Kingsbridge) - £49,976.
Culture Recovery Fund for Independent Cinema
A £30 million fund to support independent cinemas is being distributed by the British Film Institute on behalf of the DCMS, helping to make venues safe for staff and audiences when they reopen. The following venue received funding:
Totnes Cinema - £4,602
Anthony said: "Totnes Cinema is an institution and part of our cultural heritage. It adds to our town’s character and I am pleased that the cinema has been able to benefit from this fund. The arts have had an incredibly difficult year and it is my hope that we will be able to see other local groups benefit from this sizable fund."
Updated 15/10/2020