The Princess Theatre and Arts Centre has been awarded £66702 as part of the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) to help face the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and to ensure they have a sustainable future, the Culture Secretary has announced today.
The Princess Theatre and Arts Centre is one of 588 cultural and creative organisations across the country receiving urgently needed support – with £76 million of investment announced today. This follows £257 million awarded earlier in the week to 1,385 organisations, also from the Culture Recovery Fund grants programme being administered by Arts Council England on behalf of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Further rounds of funding in the cultural and heritage sector are due to be announced over the coming weeks.
The Princess Theatre and Arts Centre has been a part of Burnham and Highbridge for over 150 years. Home to a large number of local community groups, the Princess has a strong professional programme of events providing cultural entertainment to so many, both locally and those who visit the area.
This grant along with the ACE emergency response funding has been a huge lifeline for The Princess. It has allowed it to continue plans for the future as opposed to mothballing the progress it had made.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said:
“This is more vital funding to protect cultural gems across the country, save jobs and prepare the arts to bounce back. Through Arts Council England we are delivering the biggest ever investment in the arts in record time. Hundreds of millions of pounds are already making their way to thousands of organisations.
“These awards build on our commitment to be here for culture in every part of the country.”
Chair, Arts Council England, Sir Nicholas Serota, said:
“Culture is an essential part of life across the country, helping to support people’s wellbeing through creativity and self-expression, bringing communities together, and fuelling our world class creative industries.
“This latest set of awards from the Culture Recovery Fund builds on those announced recently and will help hundreds of organisations to survive the next few months, ensuring that the cultural sector can bounce back after the crisis. We will continue doing everything we can to support artists and cultural and creative organisations, with further funding to be announced in the coming weeks.”
Cllr Mike Facey, Mayor and Town Council Chairman, said:
“The Arts Council has shown The Princess a huge commitment with this grant, it proves that what The Princess does and what it has proposed to do for the future fits firmly with Arts Council aims and objectives. This power house within the Arts believes in the Princess Theatre and Arts Centre and its future here in Burnham and Highbridge”.
Cllr Louise Parkin, Chairman of the Princess Management Committee, said:
“The funding supports our ambitions to reopen to the public in early 2021 and allows us to put infrastructure in place both physically in terms of COVID safety for our audiences, and also in terms of income generation”
“We know that for every £1 spent by customers on attending the arts £5 is spent in the local economy. Culture is hugely valuable to the recovery post COVID and The Princess is very lucky that not only our town council supports that view, but now the Arts Council and our Government”
“We must give huge thanks to our staff who have worked on this application, in particular Beccy Armory, Business Development Officer, who worked tirelessly to meet the short deadline. Thanks also goes to go to our supporters, their contributions have played a big part in our plans for the future”.