St Paul’s Cathedral awarded £2.1m in government funding
St Paul’s Cathedral has been awarded £2.1m of government cash as part of a series of lifeline grants for cultural venues during the pandemic.
The latest raft of government funding has seen more than £18m handed out to 182 cultural icons around the country. Thirty per cent of the money was awarded to London venues including Ronnie Scott’s, various O2 Academies and St Paul’s Cathedral.
The £2.1m cash injection for St Paul’s will go towards construction and maintenance costs of the cathedral, which is usually propped up by tourism revenue, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) said today.
The London Venue Group, which operates cultural spaces across the capital including Flat Iron Square, will receive £2.4m of emergency cash to support them during the nationwide lockdown and to “enable them to explore streaming options in the future”, DCMS said.
O2 Academy owner Academy Music Group will receive just shy of £3m to support live music venues across London, Leeds and Liverpool.
Culture secretary Oliver Dowden said: “These grants will help the places that have shaped our skylines for hundreds of years and that continue to define culture in our towns and cities.
“From St Paul’s and Ronnie Scott’s to The Lowry and Durham Cathedral, we’re protecting heritage and culture in every corner of the country to save jobs and ensure it can bounce back strongly.”
The government’s latest Culture Recovery fund will also provide funding to heritage sites around the country such as Durham Cathedral and Blenheim Palace to help them weather the coronavirus crisis.
The fresh tranche of funding is part of the government’s £1.57bn bailout for the arts sector announced in July.
DCMS last month announced 1,300 arts venues and organisations will share an emergency £257m fund to help get them back on their feet.
London venues such as The Globe theatre benefited from the funding round, as sites continue to remain shuttered during national lockdown measures.
Main image: Getty