Following the award of a £296 thousand grant to the National Memorial Arboretum on Friday, the DCMS Culture Recovery Fund tranche administered by Arts Council England has awarded a further £279,446 to the Lichfield Garrick Theatre and £64,126 to The Guild of St Mary’s Centre Lichfield.

Michael Fabricant says “These Government awards will help keep arts venues alive during this difficult Covid period.  I am delighted that two Lichfield arts centres have been awarded grants worth over £343,000.  It is a tribute to them and to their ability in completing quite complex grant applications.

“With the expectation that a combination of vaccine and drug treatments will render Covid less dangerous in the spring and beyond, our theatres and performance spaces will be able to return to normal for most of 2021.  The importance of these grants is to keep them alive until then.”