Five cultural organisations in Kirklees have scooped awards worth a total of more than £2m from Arts Council England.
Creative Scene, an arts project led by the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield, is the main beneficiary and has secured £1m to continue its work over the next three years. The organisation works in partnership with Kirklees Council and The Batley Festival, creating and commissioning opportunities for people in North Kirklees to engage with the arts.
Arts Council England (ACE) funding will also go to Hoot Creative Arts, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Marsden-based Mikron Theatre Company and the West Yorkshire Print Workshop in Mirfield .
As pressure on public funds grow, arts organisations now have to seek funding from a variety of sources as well as ACE. In Kirklees, the contemporary music festival has raised £141,000 from trusts, foundations and international partnerships and the LBT and Creative Scene received £15,000 from Creative Europe for a light installation project and a £82,000 High Education Research Council grant to look into audience mobility. Other local groups have also been actively fund-raising – Chol Theatre, based at the LBT, recently received a total of £300,000 from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and other sources, while Proper Job Theatre Company got £235,000 from the Big Lottery Fund.
