Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has announced the final awards to be allocated from the first round of the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund. The latest grants, awarded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the British Film Institute on behalf of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, build on over £1 billion awarded to a huge range of cultural and heritage organisations last year.

33 cinemas across England will benefit from £5 million awarded by the BFI as the final applications for independent cinemas are processed ahead of the second round of the Culture Recovery Fun.

I am delighted that the Government is supporting local cinemas like The Westlands Entertainment Venue in Yeovil. This local cinema is a hub for the community, and it will play a vital role in not only our local economy but in peoples lives as we come out of the pandemic. This funding is helping to protect the venues that people cant wait to get back to, when it is safe to do so, whilst safeguarding the livelihoods of the people that work in them.