West End theatres, Canterbury Cathedral, and the Glastonbury Festival will get a part of the £400m emergency government culture funding.

A total of 2,700 English culture and heritage venues will share the latest amount of the Culture Recovery Fund to help save the future of the arts and culture sector. Canterbury Cathedral has gotten the biggest grant with £2m, while the Serpentine Galleries in London has been given £1.9m and Camden Roundhouse has £1.5m. More than £170m in loans has also been offered to organisations including the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company.

Glastonbury Festival will get a £900,000 grant from the fund, the festival was forced to call off two major events due to the pandemic. Its co-organisers Michael and Emily Eavis said they were “extremely grateful to be offered a significant award”. They added that the money will be a great relief after “losing millions from the cancellation of our last two festivals” and that the grant “will make a huge difference in helping to secure our future.” 

 The festival has also recently introduced the Live at Worthy Farm global livestream event for May 22nd. Virtual performances from Coldplay, Damon Albarn, HAIM, IDLES, Jorja Smith, Michael Kiwanuka, Wolf Alice, and Kano are expected to be shot from Glastonbury landmarks like the Pyramid Field and Stone Circle. It’s also guaranteed that “a number of unannounced surprise performances” will take place, tickets are available online priced at £20 each.

In his Budget in March, Chancellor Rishi Sunak stated that there will be an additional £300m for the fund, which is yet to be distributed. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said the fund had helped culture and heritage businesses “survive the biggest crisis they’ve ever faced” and was now assisting them to “plan for reopening and thrive in the better times ahead”.

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