The government has announced that the final £35m in emergency support to help cultural organisations recover from the Covid pandemic has been handed out.

This final round brings the total distributed through the Culture Recovery Fund to £1.57 since August 2020.

Charities supporting museums, theatres and other arts and culture organisations are among those to benefit.

This latest round of funding has been targeted at cultural organisations that have been impacted by the Omicron variant of Covid over the winter, to keep them open.

“Being cut off from them during lockdown has underlined what vital role cultural organisations play in their community up and down the country, said arts minister Lord Parkinson.

“I am very proud of the Culture Recovery Fund and the lifeline it has provided for cherished organisations in every part of the country.”

Among organisations to benefit is Liverpool arts centre Bluecoat, which has been awarded £170,000.

Another is Birmingham based Deaf Explorer, which has received £95,000 to support artists with hearing impairments.

Meanwhile, Golden Tree Productions in Cornwall has been handed £50,000 to develop projects to celebrate diversity and the county’s “distinctiveness”, according to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

“This third and final round of the Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage has provided a vital lifeline to heritage organisations, sites and attractions who have found it challenging to recover from the ongoing impact of the Covid pandemic,” said Elish McGuiness, chief executive of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which has been involved in distributing grants.

In July last year the National Audit Office raised concerns that a number of culture and heritage charities were still waiting for million of pounds in funding from the Fund at the time.

The NAO also found regional disparities in distribution, with London, the North West and the South East benefitting most from the Fund.

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