It has been announced that the Birmingham Hippodrome is among the latest recipients of emergency government arts funding and will be receiving almost £3m from the £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund. Town Hall Symphony Hall in the city has been awarded £2.53 million. The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is to return to Symphony Hall Birmingham, as its doors open for the first time in over seven months to enable live concerts for socially-distanced audiences. 

 

The announcement follows the decision by Arts Council England to also award Town Hall Symphony Hall £2.53 million from the Fund which is designed to help the sector until March 2021 – while the CBSO received £843,000 earlier this month. 

 

Birmingham Repertory Theatre has also been awarded a grant, of £1.38 million, with its Artistic Director, Sean Foley and Executive Director, Rachael Thomas saying; “COVID-19 continues to have a devastating effect on our communities, city, and industry. We are hugely grateful to The Department for Culture, Media and Sport for the grant announced today for Birmingham Repertory Theatre as part of the Culture Recovery Fund. 

 

“Without this essential grant there is no doubt that the future of our historic theatre would have been greatly compromised. Thanks to the support from DCMS and Arts Council England we can now channel our efforts into securing the future of The REP, protecting jobs, and employing freelancers”. 

 

Birmingham-born actor Adrian Lester, a Trustee of the Board of The REP, said the £1.38m would allow it to "inspire and entertain again" when it is able to reopen.

 

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said the "vital funding" would secure the recipients' futures and "protect jobs right away".

 

"These places and organisations are irreplaceable parts of our heritage and what make us the cultural superpower we are," he said.

 

The government said the grants were being awarded "to places that define culture in all corners of the country".

 

Shakespeare's Globe, the Sage Gateshead, the replica Elizabethan theatre in London, Birmingham Royal Ballet,the CBSO and the Lichfield Garrick theatreare amongst those who will receive almost £3m from the £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund.

 

Museums to benefit from this tranche of funding include the Ironbridge Gorge Museums in Shropshire and the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley.

 

More than £500m has now been allocated from the Culture Recovery Fund to almost 2,500 cultural organisations and venues.