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Culture and arts venues to share £6.6m funding

Ben Parker
News imageLuke Deal/BBC A red-brick three-storey building with a number of other buildings behind it. There is a small patch of grass before the building with a white sign-post. Luke Deal/BBC
Snape Maltings in Suffolk will receive nearly £2m for improvements

Arts and culture venues in the East of England will share £6.6m in government funding for improvements and upgrades.

Britten Pears Arts, which runs Snape Maltings Concert Hall in Suffolk, has been given nearly £2m as the venue undergoes a £13.8m refurbishment.

The Palace Theatre in Watford, Hertfordshire, will receive nearly £1m to go towards improvements to the site's heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and upgrade gallery environmental controls.

Lisa Nandy, the secretary of state for culture, media and sport, said: "Cultural organisations across the East of England are important custodians of local identity and play a key role in the story we tell ourselves as a nation."

The Natural History Museum in Colchester, Essex, which teaches people about local wildlife habitats, biodiversity and climate change, will receive £500,000.

The funding will go towards repairs to its Grade II listed church tower and help prepare the building for a return to operations.

Ipswich County Library in Suffolk, which is run by Suffolk County Council, has been awarded £500,000 to help with renovations.

The New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich will receive £529,000 from the fund.

News imageWatford Palace Theatre Exterior shot of Watford Palace Theatre taken in the day. It is an art deco building, with shades of brown. The sign reads: Palace Theatre.Watford Palace Theatre
The gallery at the Palace Theatre in Watford is getting funding for environmental control upgrades

Firstsite in Colchester, Essex, a contemporary art museum, will receive nearly £1m from the government's fund, which it said would "expand artistic ambition, and unlock new opportunities for economic growth".

News imageJane Lloyd A modern wood-panelled museum building with small crowds of people walking around outside. There are blue skies above.Jane Lloyd
Firstsite in Colchester, Essex is to receive nearly £1m from the government

Sheringham Museum in Norfolk will receive £456,000 to fund building repairs, including to its viewing tower.

Creative Arts East, Norwich, will receive £144,000, Stagetext, Colchester, Essex will be given £183,000 and the Wysing Arts Centre in Cambridgeshire will receive £195,000.

News imageTom Jackson/BBC A yellow sign saying Wysing Arts Centre situated on grass with a green one-storey building in the background and a two-storey glass building to the left.Tom Jackson/BBC
Wysing Arts Centre opened in 1988 and offers residencies to a host of artists

Cambridgeshire Mobile Libraries has been awarded £150,000 to replace their Fenland vehicle with a new mobile library.

Nandy said: "Arts and culture are the beating hearts of our communities, they have the power to unite us in the face of division and break down barriers to opportunity.

"We want to harness the power to help us build a brighter future for the people of the East of England."

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