The UK’s first video dome building has received nearly £400,000 from the Government with Plymouth’s The Box museum and gallery being handed close to £1million.
The Immersive Dome is being created in Plymouth as part of the redevelopment of Devonport Market Hall into a £7.4million tech business centre.
It is due to open in 2021 as a “world-class space for creative, digital and immersive experiences” and will position a 15m diameter, 210-degree dome in an extension next to a redeveloped 19 th Century building that will house new creative enterprises.
The grants come from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and Arts Council England as part of a national programme.
The £1.57billion Culture Recovery Fund has allocated £58.9 million for the Capital Kickstart programme, designed to help cultural organisations across the UK cover additional costs, caused by Covid-related delays or fundraising shortfalls, to their capital projects. This cash can pay for building works, refurbishments and large-scale equipment purchases.
A total of £11.4million has been awarded to seven organisations in the South West to help deliver projects which will strengthen the region’s cultural infrastructure.
In Plymouth, the Real Ideas Organisation will receive £394,135 towards the redevelopment of the 166-year-old Devonport Market Hall so it will connect local communities with new creative enterprises, help to develop future-facing skills and jobs, and will feature the first immersive dome of its kind in Europe.
And Plymouth City Council will receive £932,600 for The Box: the new flagship cultural venue opened to the public in September 2020. It is the largest arts and heritage museum space to open in the UK this year.
The payouts follow several previous rounds of investment from the Culture Recovery Fund, which has already £428million distributed to 2000 cultural organisations though the grants programme, alongside the £3.36million Emergency Grassroots Music Venues Fund.
In October, The Box received £423,000 from the Cultural Recovery Fund in payouts to help performances to restart, assist venues to plan for reopening, protect jobs and create freelance opportunities.
The latest financing takes the total allocated from the Culture Recovery Fund more than £1billion.
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Lindsey Hall, chief executive at RIO, said: “We have all been holding our breath and are completely delighted that Arts Council England have awarded us a Cultural Capital Kickstart grant to cover the unavoidable, additional costs caused by Covid.
“The Market Hall Immersive Centre and Dome is so close to completion and this award means we can press ahead, open on time and do everything possible to contribute to recovery.
“Immersive and creative technologies have a huge role to play in realising our collective aspiration to create a fairer, greener Plymouth. Thank you Arts Council – we couldn’t do it without you.”
Top TV design guru Wayne Hemingway, collaborator on the Market Hall project said: “Giving a new forward -acing creative use to Devonport’s historic, totally beautiful Market Hall is a wonderful demonstration that the UK is serious about re-using iconic buildings and serious about supporting and investing in our creative industries and that they are vital to our economic recovery. Market Hall is once again about to be one of Plymouth’s public jewels.”
Tudor Evans OBE, Plymouth City Council Leader, speaking about The Box, said: “We are thrilled to be the recipient of yet more support from Arts Council England and for the grant that The Box has now been awarded from the Capital Kickstart programme.
“No-one could have predicted the challenges that 2020 has presented us with and the delayed opening of the city’s major new museum, gallery and archive has incurred a range of additional capital costs.
“This funding will go a long way towards helping to alleviate the financial pressures these have created and will help put The Box in a really strong position to go on to even bigger and better things in 2021.”
Phil Gibby, area director South West, Arts Council England said: “We are really pleased to announce seven awards from the Culture Recovery Fund: Capital Kickstart across the South West.
“This latest tranche of funding to be announced from the Government’s generous package of support for the arts, culture and heritage sector ensures that many of the regions ambitious and ongoing cultural developments - that have been delayed due to Covid-19 - can now securely get back on track to reopening and serving their communities with fantastic cultural experiences.”
Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, said: “This Government promised it would be here for culture and today’s announcement is proof we’ve kept our word.
“The £1billion invested so far through the Culture Recovery Fund has protected tens of thousands of jobs at cultural organisations across the UK, with more support still to come through a second round of applications.
“Today we’re extending a huge helping hand to the crown jewels of UK culture - so that they can continue to inspire future generations all around the world.”
