DCMS reveals beneficiaries of £59m Culture Investment Fund

More than 70 cultural organisations have been announced as beneficiaries of a combined £58.8m from the third round of the government's Cultural Investment Fund.

A total of £32.4 million will be given to eight projects, including £4.9m for Bradford, UK City of Culture 2025, to redevelop intercultural arts centre Kala Sangam and other cultural assets in the city.

Meanwhile, £4.9m will go to 27 projects as part of the Libraries Improvement Fund and £21.4m will go to 36 museums through the Museum Estate and Development Fund.

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The government said the funding will see arts venues transformed, upgraded and created to allow everyone, no matter where they live, the opportunity to access culture.

Beneficiaries include Basildon Borough Council which will receive £4.4m to turn empty properties in the town centre into a creative facility for screen and immersive digital industries.

And the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent will receive £5m to build a wraparound extension to improve facilities and accessibility and support local education, health and wellbeing projects.

In Walsall, in the West Midlands, the listed Guildhall building in St Matthew’s Quarter will be redeveloped as part of a £3.7m project to deliver a three-year programme to reinvigorate part of the town centre.

Meanwhile, £350,000 will go to Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, which was the first publicly funded museum outside London when it opened in 1846, to improve infrastructure and protect its nationally important collections covering social and natural history.

'Levelling up culture'

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said: “This investment will help to level up access to arts and culture for everyone, no matter where they live.

“Culture helps us create lifelong memories with our families and friends, provides entertainment and joy, and allows us to explore the world around us in new and exciting ways.

"It can also boost tourism, support local business and drive local economic growth. This funding will support brilliant arts organisations to upgrade their venues and create new projects that will be at the heart of their communities.”

Darren Henley, Chief Executive of Arts Council England, which is administering the fund, said the investment will help create new, or improve existing, cultural buildings and spaces in villages, towns and cities.

"By doing so it will support recovery and growth and unlock the creative potential of those who live and work in communities across England,” he added.

Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England, said: “Culture, heritage and the arts all contribute to people’s sense of belonging and place. These grants will help to reinforce this and we welcome them.”

The fund, which was launched in 2019 by former Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan in order to "drive local growth, support young people, and reinforce culture’s role at the heart of communities", is worth a total of £250m over five years.