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Entertainment venues across Britain were forced
to close last March because of the coronavirus crisis and while
some partially reopened last summer, many have remained shut
since then.
Last July, the government unveiled a 1.57 billion pound ($2.2
billion) Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) package of grants and
loans, and on Friday detailed where the latest tranche of
funding would be spent.
Among the recipients is Glastonbury, the largest greenfield
music festival in the world, which has been forced to cancel for
two years running. It will receive 900,000 pounds to help carry
it through to 2022.
"This grant will make a huge difference in helping to secure our
future," founder Michael Eavis and daughter Emily said in a
statement.
Tens of millions of pounds have been made available to theatres,
while the English Heritage Trust, which looks after 420 historic
monuments, buildings, and objects, will receive 23.4 million
pounds.
The British Film Institute has also awarded 6.5 million to help
independent cinemas.
The government says the CRF has helped protect more than 75,000
jobs and ensure thousands of organisations survive the COVID
crisis.
"Now we’re staying by their side as they prepare to welcome the
public back through their doors," culture minister Oliver Dowden
said.
Under the government's pandemic "roadmap", it is hoped many
venues will be able to reopen to live audiences from mid-May and
the latest funding is designed to help theatres, museums and
comedy clubs make necessary preparations.
The government was accused last month of being too slow to hand
out CRF money to recipients, with parliament's spending watchdog
saying only 495 million pounds of the first 1 billion pound
tranche had been paid out by late February.
The culture department said nearly all the 1.57 billion pounds
had now been allocated.
($1 = 0.7260 pounds)
(Reporting by Michael Holden, editing by Estelle Shirbon)
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