George Eustice, Member of Parliament for Camborne, Redruth and Hayle has welcomes the new allocation of £5.4 million in funding from the government to help protect cultural organisations in the South-West region.
As part of this fund, Cornwall will receive £540,000 to protect four “cultural gems”. Comedy clubs, circuses, festivals, regional theatres and local museums are among 588 arts and culture organisations across England to receive a share of £76million in essential support in the second round of the Culture Recovery Fund.
Kneehigh Theatre, based in Truro, is the biggest winner in Cornwall with £249,833. The funding will enable socially-distanced performances to restart where safe to do so, venues to plan for reopening, protect jobs and create opportunities for freelancers. Also successful were ILOW in Truro (£157,605), The Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society in Falmouth (£79,060) and Calstock Arts in Calstock (£52,164).
It follows the announcement on Monday that 13 organisations in Cornwall were being given £1.8million in the first round of the Culture Recovery Fund.
George said, “It is great to see this new funding being allocated to support arts and culture in Cornwall. This vital funding will enable many arts and cultural organisations to save jobs across the South-west.”
Michelle Carwardine-Palmer, CEO of Kneehigh Theatre, said: “Securing Culture Recovery Funding will now enable Kneehigh to reimagine its operating model, reignite its creativity and prepare the company to present its work in front of live audiences once again - and we can’t wait.”
