Sheffield's Crucible and Leeds Grand theatres among cultural organisations to receive next round of Arts Council rescue funding

Sheffield’s Crucible and Leeds Grand theatres are among 35 arts venues and organisations to receive a share of a further tranche of funding to stay afloat during the coronavirus crisis.

The grants are the largest to have come from the package to date and will go to bodies which require between £1 million and £3 million.

Of the £52m being issued, 70 per cent will go to organisations outside London with £7.7m for those in Yorkshire & the Humber.

Also to benefit from the rescue fund is Hull City Council and Leeds Theatre Trust Ltd, which runs Leeds Playhouse.

Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre, Birmingham Repertory and the Design Museum in the capital will also get sums of rescue money.

The Sheffield Theatre Trust, which includes the Crucible Theatre and Sheffield Lyceum, will receive £2,246,000 to reopen for a season with a pop-up pantomime for Christmas.

Sir Nicholas Serota, chairman of Arts Council England, said: "The Culture Recovery Fund has already helped hundreds of organisations, of all types and sizes, in villages, towns and cities across the country.

"It has provided a lifeline that will allow these organisations to continue to play an integral role in their communities and produce new artistic work that will entertain and inspire us all.

"This latest funding, which are the largest grants to date, will support some of the country's most loved and admired cultural spaces - from great regional theatres and museums to historic venues in the capital - which are critical to the development of a new generation of talent and in providing work for freelance creatives."

Another round of grants of more than £1 million and the recipients of a £270 million loans package is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: "As part of our unprecedented £1.57 billion rescue fund, today we're saving British cultural icons with large grants of up to £3 million - from Shakespeare's Globe to the Sheffield Crucible.

"These places and organisations are irreplaceable parts of our heritage and what make us the cultural superpower we are.

"This vital funding will secure their future and protect jobs right away."

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