THEATRES and a museum have received almost £100,000 to support their reopening after lockdown.

Worthing Theatres and Museum (WTM), which includes the Connaught Theatre and Cinema, the Pavilion Theatre and Assembly Hall in the town, was granted £98,398 from the second round of the government’s Culture Recovery Fund.

They were among more than 2,700 organisations nationally to receive nearly £400 million in the latest round of grants and loans from the £1.57 billion funding pot, to help the culture and heritage sector reopen and recover.

The money will support the safe reopening of WTM venues from next month, and there is a varied line-up of shows on offer as audiences return.

The spring programme includes Rhum and Clay’s critically acclaimed production of The War of the Worlds at the Connaught Theatre as part of Brighton Festival, a production of Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber at the Pavilion Theatre and family theatre show Pinocchio.

The funding also supports the reopening of the Worthing Museum, which is launching four new exhibitions.

These include In Their Shoes, which will showcase Worthing people during the pandemic, paintings by artist Anthony Bennett in his Indian Yellow exhibition, and work from the museum's bi-annual open exhibition by Sussex artists, the Digital Open20.

Chief executive Amanda O'Reilly, said: "We are delighted, and grateful, to have received a grant from Culture Recovery Fund's second round.

"The last year has been extremely challenging. We have opened our venues for shows, events and exhibitions every time government legislation allowed and it was safe to do so.

"This essential funding will support us in getting back to doing more of what we do best, bringing high quality arts and heritage to Worthing, and aid in creating greater stability to weather the future, long-term financial impacts of the pandemic.

"We continue to work hard towards ensuring our future so we can continue making memories together for years to come.

"We appreciate the support we have received from our community over the last year, and look forward to welcoming audiences back into all our venues this May."

The spring programme begins on Tuesday, May 18, at Pavilion Theatre with Victorious, a show by award-winning musical comedy performer Hannah Brackenbury.

For more information and tickets visit www.wtam.uk.