£1.14 Million boost for 10 arts and cultural organisations across Northamptonshire

Organisations receiving this funding include Corby Cube Theatre, NN Contemporary, The Picturedrome and Warts and All Theatre
The Picturedrome is one of the organisations in Northamptonshire receiving funding from the UK government's £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund.The Picturedrome is one of the organisations in Northamptonshire receiving funding from the UK government's £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund.
The Picturedrome is one of the organisations in Northamptonshire receiving funding from the UK government's £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund.

The UK Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund saw a total of £257 million awarded across the country yesterday (October 12). This amounted to a total of £1.14 million for arts and cultural organisations across Northamptonshire.

This move was announced by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and Arts Council and it means that 1385 arts and cultural organisations up and down the country will see a vital financial boost after experiencing a plummet in revenue as a result of the pandemic.

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In Northamptonshire, this investment will help 10 theatres, galleries, performance groups, arts organisations, museums and local venues facing the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. The funding will ensure that they have a sustainable future and will continue to bring joy to local communities and international audiences.

The recipients are those organisations that applied for grants of under £1 million in the first round of the Culture Recovery Fund. This investment will help organisations create work and performances as well as prepare for re-opening.

Culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, said: “This funding is a vital boost for the theatres, music venues, museums and cultural organisations that form the soul of our nation. It will protect these special places, save jobs and help the culture sector’s recovery.

“These places and projects are cultural beacons the length and breadth of the country - from the Beamish museum in County Durham to the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Bristol Old Vic.

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“This unprecedented investment in the arts is proof this government is here for culture, with further support to come in the days and weeks ahead so that the culture sector can bounce back strongly.”

Organisations in Northamptonshire that will receive funding include:

Corby Cube Theatre

The Core at Corby Cube will be receiving £198,776 in funding; they present music, comedy, dance, theatre and family shows. They highly value their creative projects, activities that reach a diverse and broad range of the community and have a strong focus on children, young people and families.

They host weekly workshops that provide opportunities in theatre and dance as well as access to digital, writing and musical theatre groups. Their partnership programme with local schools gave just under 7,000 students access to productions, workshops and activities. This funding will help Corby Cube Theatre to develop ways to innovate digitally by advancing the possibilities of virtual reality technology in classrooms.

KDR Events

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This event company, receiving £288,000, provides technical equipment, entertainment and mobile bars for events. They run the Picturedrome and The Old White Hart Inn and they have a number of musical acts available for hire at festivals or events.

In 1912, The Picturedrome became Northampton’s first purpose-built cinema. Now, as well as film, it also provides live music and comedy shows. KDR Events will use the funding to keep the Picturedrome open and provide live events in the future.

NN Contemporary

This gallery and studio space complex, receiving £70,000, offers an education programme and project space in Northampton. They recently relocated to 24 Guildhall, which has created additional space to allow a civic reading room and a fully accessible new facility for interdisciplinary arts production and higher education courses.

The funding will help NN Contemporary to offer artist commissions and training programmes for people in the community.

Warts and All Theatre

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This community driven co-created professional theatre, receiving £98,009, has a national reputation for youth arts training, working with young people and emerging artists across Northamptonshire and Coventry.

This grant will allow the theatre to remain partially open to deliver Young Actor activity and work with consultants to develop commercially viable theatre opportunities with partners Delapre Abbey Preservation Trust (DAPT).

Area director at Arts Council England, Peter Knott, said: “We know that creativity, arts and culture benefit us in so many ways, having a positive impact on our wellbeing, bringing us together and making a significant contribution to the local and national economy – today’s announcements gives us a chance to continue that and contribute to the national recovery, post-Covid.”

This announcement is the first of a series of allocations of grants and loans to successful applications to the UK government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund in the coming days and weeks.

Applicants for grants of over £1 million - and those who applied to round two of the fund and the Repayable Finance programme - will be notified of their outcomes shortly.

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