The Box has received a near £1 million grant from the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund to help with the increased capital costs caused by the pandemic.
The Box was only a couple of months away from its launch when the first national lockdown came into effect this spring.
The government restrictions meant it had to postpone its highly anticipated opening from mid- May until the end of September.
The delay resulted in increased fees for the fit out of The Box’s building and its exhibition spaces. It also had to extend the lease on its offsite store, purchase specialist PPE equipment, create and produce additional signage and develop new digital interpretation.
Tudor Evans, Plymouth City Council Leader, 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 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.”
The grant of £935,000 for The Box bring the total investment from the Government’s Cultural Recovery Fund in Plymouth to £4,986,492.
The funding is supporting 14 projects across the city including Theatre Royal Plymouth, Real Ideas Organisation, Plymouth Pavilions and the Plym Valley Railway.
