Taunton: Arts organisations win £110k of ‘core’ funding

Arts organisations in Taunton have been awarded almost £110,000 in funding by the town’s council.

It comes just months after it increased its share of council tax and took on a number of services from the crisis-hit Somerset Council.

The Brewhouse Theatre won £28,940, the Museum of Somerset received £30,500 and the town’s Creative Innovation Centre was handed £49,500.

Taunton Town Council said the money was to help with running costs for organisation suffering funding difficulties.

Vickie Robbins, the executive director of Taunton Brewhouse, said its Community Learn Programme, which makes no money, could have been one of the first things to go had it not been awarded funding.

“It’s very important to us to keep that going,” she told BBC Radio Somerset, adding: “With the support of Taunton Town Council, we will be able to keep that going for at least another year, which is great.”

The South West Heritage Trust, which runs the Museum of Somerset, said the funding award for them was “really excellent news”.

Sam Astill, the executive director, added: “It’s a grant towards core costs… that grant will in turn help us continue to be able to deliver our programmes for schools, for families and young people, and to deliver exhibitions at the museum, so it’s a really important investment to the future of the site.”

Mr Astill said the award was a “serious chunk of money”, and would help it “offset” some of the challenges it is facing.

Taunton Town councillor Tom Deakin said: “When we took the difficult decision to increase our precept for the 2024/25 financial year, we had in mind the need to ensure that we had funding available to secure the future of Taunton as a prosperous town, considering the financial crisis at Somerset Council.”

“With three of the town’s key cultural attractions, The Museum of Somerset, The Brewhouse Taunton and the Creative Innovation Centre CIC all telling us through their applications that they were at risk due to lack of funding, it was only right that we stepped in.”