Lighthouse, Poole’s centre for the arts, is safe for the immediate future after hearing it is to receive a grant of £987,964 from the Culture Recovery Fund.

The news has been welcomed with ‘joy, relief and immense gratitude’ by the organisation.

The funding, delivered by Arts Council England on behalf of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, is part of the government’s £1.57bn package for UK culture and heritage.

It confirms the short-term survival of Lighthouse.

Elspeth McBain, Lighthouse Chief Executive, pictured left, said: “After a hugely difficult seven months and still no end in sight for being able to get back to normal business, the over-riding sense is of joy, relief and immense gratitude to the government for this eleventh hour support which has saved us and many other cultural organisations from a very bleak and desperate situation.

“Thanks to this award, Lighthouse will continue to play an important part of the cultural landscape of the region and the UK.

“It has been a very long and stressful few months not only for the team at Lighthouse but for all our colleagues working in the cultural sector and this funding will now enable us to focus on recovery.

“The government has recognised that the cultural industries are a vital part of the UK and we are truly grateful for the financial support they have found that will save parts of the sector in the immediate future.

“For Lighthouse, this money will support us until the end of the financial year by when we hope to be able to welcome back capacity audiences once again.

“In the meantime, we will continue to use our spaces creatively, ensure that Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is able to work in its home concert hall, enable regular groups and classes to continue and create a public programme to support artists and creative practitioners to provide our community with the arts and entertainment and community engagement work that our town and region needs and absolutely should have.”