Horsham’s Capitol awarded £182,000 in ‘vital boost’ for venue

The Capitol in Horsham has been awarded £182,000 funding to help it recover from coronavirus.
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The cash has been handed out as part of the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) to help the venue have a sustainable future.

The Capitol is one of only 1,385 cultural and creative organisations across the country receiving urgently needed support. A total of £257 million of investment has been announced today as part of the first round of the Culture Recovery Fund grants programme being administered by Arts Council England. Further rounds of funding in the cultural and heritage sector are due to be announced over the coming weeks.

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Horsham District Council cabinet member for leisure and culture councillor Jonathan Chowen said: “This funding is incredibly welcome and will support our live performance offer at The Capitol in these extremely challenging and unprecedented times for live theatre.

The CapitolThe Capitol
The Capitol

“We re-opened The Capitol in July, as soon as it was viable and safe to do so, as we know that arts and culture are really important for our local community.

“We have worked tirelessly to ensure the venue is safe and Covid-secure for our customers and we were delighted to welcome back our first socially distanced live performance last weekend.”

The feedback from the audience was incredibly positive and the venue is looking forward to the Christmas programme with a mix of drama, West End musical stars and family fun, he added.

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Mr Chowen said: “The funding we have received will create a vital boost for our well-loved venue and help towards securing our plans for the future recovery of live theatre performance events in the coming months, very much building on the considerable successes we achieved with the 2019 Year of Culture.”

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

“This funding will save thousands of cultural spaces loved by both 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.”