Storyhouse receives £730k govt grant amid financial uncertainty

Storyhouse has received a grant worth £730,252 as part of the Government’s £1.57b ‘Culture Recovery Fund’, the Culture Secretary has announced today.

The grant will help Storyhouse in their bid for survival as just last week they announced their financial situation was getting “steadily worse”.

At the same time of this announcement they also decided to step up their campaign titled ‘Save Storyhouse’ as a way to help raise awareness for their perilous position.

This new grant will help for the immediate future as the ‘Culture Recovery Fund’ is designed to aid the affected culture industry through the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and to ensure they have a sustainable future.

Storyhouse is one of 1,385 cultural and creative organisations across the UK receiving support as £257m has been administered by Arts Council England.

Further rounds of funding in the cultural and heritage sector are due to be announced over the coming weeks.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: “This funding is a vital boost for the theatres, music venues, museums and cultural organisations that form the soul of our nation. It will protect these special places, save jobs and help the culture sector’s recovery.

“These places and projects are cultural beacons the length and breadth of the country. This unprecedented investment in the arts is proof this government is here for culture, with further support to come in the days and weeks ahead so that the culture sector can bounce back strongly.”

Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair at Arts Council England, added: “Theatres, museums, galleries, dance companies and music venues bring joy to people and life to our cities, towns and villages.

“This life-changing funding will save thousands of cultural spaces loved by local communities and international audiences. Further funding is still to be announced and we are working hard to support our sector during these challenging times.”

Storyhouse’s Artistic Director Alex Clifton said: “This has been, and continues to be, an incredibly hard journey for so many cultural organisations and their diverse communities.

“Cultural spaces help us define ourselves; if we lose them, we lose a sense of ourselves – it’s Peter Pan losing his shadow.

“One of the horrible potential outcomes of this pandemic is that we might lose the organisations, the shared creative spaces, in which we find and make our cultures.

“It would take a generation to reclaim them. These are not organisations that spring back to life in a day; they take decades to develop. So, this is a bright moment amongst many dark ones.

“With this support we will turn immediately to the work which justifies this investment: to bring people together in safe spaces, with shared joy. To empower creative communities to shape their own cultures.

“Through this work, we turn again to the freelance artists, technicians and performers who have been hit the hardest in our sector. We will use this vote of confidence to help get them back in work. We will keep open, in service of our communities when they need us – just as they help us when we need them.”

Andrew Bentley, Storyhouse’s CEO, added: “We’d like to extend our thanks to the Culture Recovery Fund and to Arts Council England.

“Even more than the lifeline this extends to us, it’s so heartening to know that our partners feel that an investment in Storyhouse’s communities is an investment worth making.

“We’ve worked so hard since lockdown and have been open for business since day one. That’s not been an easy path to take when so many are closed; we feel fortunate to have been able to open our doors. We look forward to working even harder from this point and repaying the investment that has been made in us today.”

“This is a long way from the end of our struggle, but today gives us a vital platform for recovery. Storyhouse has never been needed more than now; we now work to create an even safer space in which our communities can gather together with joy.”

“Our sleeves are rolled up and we are ready for the next chapter.”