THREE of Taunton’s key cultural institutions “at risk due to lack of funding” have been awarded thousands of pounds to support running costs.

The Brewhouse, The Museum of Somerset, and the Creative Innovation Centre, were all awarded funds thanks to the Taunton Town Council Venue Cost Grants.

£28,940 was awarded to the Taunton Theatre Association Ltd (who operate The Brewhouse Taunton) for revenue funding towards staff running costs for their LEARN educational programme.

£30,500 went to South West Heritage Trust for revenue funding to support the operation of the Museum of Somerset in Taunton.

£49,500 was awarded to the Creative Innovation Centre CIC for revenue funding to support the core costs of running two venues (the Creative Innovation Centre itself, on Paul Street and The Arts Hub at Flook House on Belvedere Road), and support the costs associated with paying arts and culture providers.

All this came from a sum of £120,000 would be made available to provide funding for specific venue costs (revenue and capital expenditure), to be considered on a case-by-case basis, up to a maximum sum of £50,000 per applicant.

Venue Cost Grants will only be made to organisations within the town council area with an acceptable business plan setting out how the organisation intends to fund its activities over the next five years.

Councillor Tom Deakin said: “When we took the difficult decision to increase our precept for the 2024/25 financial year, we had in mind the need to ensure that we had funding available to secure the future of Taunton as a prosperous town, considering the financial crisis at Somerset Council.

“With three of the town’s key cultural attractions, The Museum of Somerset, The Brewhouse Taunton and the Creative Innovation Centre CIC all telling us through their applications that they were at risk due to lack of funding, it was only right that we stepped in.

“Two of our key priorities, as set out in our Corporate Plan for 2024-27 were to ensure A Prosperous Town and A Vibrant Culture and provide the much-needed funding to enable the smooth running of these organisations to meet those objectives.”

The Grants Committee are next scheduled to meet on 7 October 2024.

The application deadline for that round of funding is 13 September 2024, details on how to apply can be found on our website.