£23m cash share-out for culture
MORE than £23m of funding will be awarded to arts organisations around Greater Manchester, it has been announced.
Arts Council England and the government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport have revealed that Greater Manchester will receive around £23.7m of the £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund.
The money will be split between six organisations, with the bulk of it - £21m - going towards the Factory arts project, which is being built on the site of the former Granada TV studios.
Other organisations which receive funding are:
Manchester Museum (£1,304,489); Global Grooves (£234,721); Bolton Council - The Octagon Theatre (£400,000); Inner City Music Ltd - Band on The Wall (£412,000); Contact (£424,799).
Global Grooves is an artist-led Carnival arts organisation based in Tameside. CEO Leon Patel said: “We are delighted that we have received further support from the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund.
“This investment will allow us to continue will our mission to ensure that everyone in our community has access to high quality cultural experiences.
“The Cultural Capital Kickstart fund grant will allow us to complete our ambitious capital programme and create Tameside’s only dedicated arts and cultural hub.
“The cultural recovery fund grants have been hugely important to areas like Tameside and we are pleased that these funds are directly reaching artists, audiences and young people in traditionally under-represented areas of the UK.”
Contact Theatre will also benefit from the funding.
Its artistic director and CEO, Matt Fenton, said: “We are over the moon.
“It enables us to finish the fit-out of our new building to the standard that young people, artists and audiences deserve, and to do justice to our wonderful new creative spaces.”
Hollyoaks star Haiesha Mistry, who started her acting career with Contact, added: “I am thrilled that Contact Theatre has been awarded Kickstart Capital funding.
“Contact is a powerhouse for Manchester’s young people. It’s important they help our next generation and I’m so glad they can continue to do so, as well as inspiring our future leaders.”