Suffolk organisations including Southwold and Aldeburgh Theatre and Stowmarket Town Council receive grants in final round of Culture Recovery Fund
Four Suffolk organisations are set to receive thousands in grants in the final round of the government's Culture Recovery Fund scheme.
Started to help organisations thrive during the pandemic and protect jobs, the scheme has seen £1.57 billion in funding handed out across music venues, theatres, galleries, museums and cinemas.
Now in its final stage and with the last £35 million being given to 340 locations in the UK, funding will go to four locations within the county including Southwold and Aldeburgh Theatre and Stowmarket Town Council.
Southwold and Aldeburgh Theatre has received an award of £37,422 to support its work delivering theatre and community arts projects across East Suffolk.
Richard Blaine, artistic director at Southwold and Aldeburgh Theatre Ltd said: “The amazing support from both CRF and ERS has been instrumental in both securing the survival of the company and creating a pathway to renewed self-sustainability and expansion.
"By supporting our 2021 summer season, CRF enabled the company to re-open on Freedom Day, 19th July, the first in our region. That season’s success won us an invitation to expand to a second venue in 2022.
"The vital bridge to this expanded season, with potentially twice the income, and twice the local jobs of 2021, is our ERS grant. Having been kept afloat, we have now had a huge push back into the stream - it’s a great example of how judiciously targeted Arts Funding is a future-facing investment, not just a lifeline.”
Stowmarket Town Council are another of the five organisations to receive money in this final stage of the grants.
To be put towards the film industry, the council will be handed £128,938 - support which David Marsh, events and theatre manager at Stowmarket Town Council, said will allow the district's cultural offering to grow.
He said: "The additional measures and full programme it has afforded us to put in place has helped give our community the confidence to return to the cinema and in turn support many of our neighbouring hospitality businesses.
"We thank the BFI and DCMS for their incredibly valued support during this period."
East Suffolk's 1DegreeEast will receive £26,000 to support their work in theatre, while The Original Theatre Company, based in West Suffolk, will be handed £94,000.
Gareth Negus, managing director of Electric Picture House Cinema in Southwold said: "Since we first received support from the Culture Recovery Fund, we've been gratified to see our audiences start to return to the cinema in greater numbers, some for the first time in several years.
"But we still face the challenge of rebuilding their confidence, and the cinema-going habit, in a period when - like many businesses - we are facing a number of increasing costs.
"So we're tremendously grateful for this additional funding, and the investment in small businesses like ours that are so important to their communities. We're here for culture, and we're planning to stay that way."
