SLOUGH Borough Council has had a slice of the government art fund to help make the Curve Covid-19 secure.

As part of the government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund to help ease pressures of the coronavirus impact in the arts, the council has received £65,508.

This will go into making the venue at the Curve Covid-19 safe by upgrading the current bench seating to individual seating to enable social distancing when welcoming back audiences.

Other works include purchasing camera equipment and improvements in existing fixed camera spots to allow live streaming and purchasing performer’s microphones, mobile sound, and lighting desks.

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Slough Borough Council is just one of 1,385 cultural and creative organisations across the country receiving urgently needed support where the first round of funds was being administered by Arts Council England – the national development agency for creativity and culture.

The Jack and the Beanstalk pantomime is planned this December with the team working with the regular show’s producer DK proDucKtions.

To keep audiences safe, the audience size will be reduced to allow for adequate social distancing. The pantomime will be a specially created and filmed version of the show for Slough, screened at The Curve over the weekend of December 12 and 13, and hosted by two pantomime characters, Jack and The Dame, live in the Venue.

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Councillor James Swindlehurst, council leader, said: “The Curve is such a special place in Slough for our residents to visit and we are delighted to receive funding support from the Cultural Recovery Fund to enable shows and events to be made safer and more accessible for our audiences.

“Making these adaptions will enable us to reopen The Curve in a safe way in due course and we look forward to welcoming audiences back to the venue.”

More details on the Curve’s shows can be found here: www.thecurveslough.com.