A theatre and lighting company have benefitted from a combined grant worth almost £120,000.

Weston Mercury: Jack and the Beanstalk at Princess Theatre Burnham on Sea in January. Picture: MARK ATHERTONJack and the Beanstalk at Princess Theatre Burnham on Sea in January. Picture: MARK ATHERTON (Image: Archant)

The Princess Theatre and Arts Centre in Burnham and WingnuT Production Lighting in Wrington have been awarded more than £66,000 and £51,000 respectively as part of the government’s £1.57billion Culture Recovery Fund.

The fund, administered by Arts Council England on behalf of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, offers financial support for cultural and creative organisations that were financially stable before Covid-19, but were at imminent risk of failure.

Grants are set to help comedy clubs, circuses, festivals, theatres and museums, which in Somerset have benefitted from £990,000 from the second round of the fund announced on October 17.

This follows the £4.2million boost for county in the first round of grants announced on October 12. The Princess Theatre said it is ‘delighted’ to receive £66,702 of funding.

Weston Mercury: Princess Theatre, Burnham on Sea.Princess Theatre, Burnham on Sea. (Image: Archant)

A spokesman for the theatre, in Princess Street, said: “This grant along with the Arts Council England emergency response funding has been a huge lifeline for The Princess.

“It has allowed it to continue plans for the future as opposed to mothballing the progress it had made.”

The theatre and arts centre, which has been a part of the community for 150 years, is currently closed due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Wingnut Production Lighting at Gatcombe Farm also gained £51,354 from the Culture Recovery Fund.

Weston Mercury: Some famouos faces including left to right Clem So, Derrek Martin (Eastenders) Jon Davey and Brian Wheeler (Harry Potter) at the Comicon at the Princess Theatre in Burnham on Sea 17,08,19Some famouos faces including left to right Clem So, Derrek Martin (Eastenders) Jon Davey and Brian Wheeler (Harry Potter) at the Comicon at the Princess Theatre in Burnham on Sea 17,08,19 (Image: (C)2016 Jeremy Long / JCLPhotography, all rights reserved)

A spokesman for the company said: “We are relieved to hear it will receive funding thanks to the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund.

“This funding will help this creative organisation continue to bring exciting new events to life for next year.”

The company was founded in 2009 and provides creative lighting design and rigging services to festival, concert, theatre and corporate events industries.

Culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, said the vital funding will help protect cultural gems across the country, save jobs and prepare the arts to ‘bounce back’.

Area director of Arts Council England South West, Phil Gibby, said the funding will help keep ‘hundreds of organisations afloat over the next few months’, ensuring that the sector can bounce back after the crisis.