TWO of the region’s arts and entertainment venues have received more than £1.2million to help them recover and reopen to visitors following the Covid-19 emergency.
The Bowes Museum has received a grant of £704,161 while the Darlington Hippodrome got £499,304 from the second round of awards from the Government’s £1.57billion Culture Recovery Fund.
The cash will help organisations to look ahead to the spring and summer. Some venues may be able to open from May 17, while others might have to wait until later in June.
After months of closures and cancellations due to the Covid restrictions, the Government says the funding will provide a much-needed helping hand for organisations trying to get back to normal in the months ahead.
A large proportion of the funding at The Bowes Museum will go into its reserves.
The rest will be used in a number of areas, including a undertaking major audience development analysis, which will allow the officials to reach potential new audiences.
Part of the money will also be used to build a classroom and shelters in the grounds as well as expanding family fun and children and young people’s events and activities.
In addition, the museum will host health and well-being classes in the park and undertake outreach work in the wider community.
Adrian Jenkins, director of The Bowes Museum, said: “This money is a very welcome and fantastic boost to the museum’s reopening plans.
“It will help us be more financially secure in the longer term, develop detailed audience research to reach out to potential new visitors and expand our use of the parkland by creating an outdoor classroom and shelters.”
At Darlington Hippodrome, the grant will help offset losses from cancelled productions, retain jobs, secure the long-term future of the theatre and secure the purchase of new state-of-the-art cinema screening equipment to enable an ever expanding offer of events once the venue is able to re-open its doors in May.
Heather Tarran-Jones, the Hippodrome’s director of programming and development, said: “The last 12 months have been a challenging time for the sector. We are coming to the end of a difficult journey and this funding will assist in the transition back to a sustainable business model.
“However, what we really need is the return of our fantastic audiences purchasing tickets to future shows to breathe life and energy back into the Hippodrome and welcoming the return of live entertainment.”
