SEVERAL west Dorset cultural organisations and attractions have been awarded funding from Dorset Council.

The council has announced the latest recipients of its Organisational Revenue Support Fund for Culture which guarantees funding for three years for art and heritage organisations and accredited museums.

A total just short of £1.5 million is to be shared across 21 Dorset based cultural organisations over three years– seven of which are based in west Dorset.

The money is a lifeline to many who receive it and it enables them to feel safe knowing that they have cash coming through the door until 2027.

Bridport Museum has been awarded £40,000 a year, whilst Lyme Regis Museum will get £25,000, and The Marine Theatre in Lyme Regis will get £20,000.

Bridport Arts Trust is receiving £25,000 each year, but for the first time they are to share the money with The Lyric Theatre.

Claire Tudge, the trusts new director, said: “We are really excited and pleased about the funding – we applied for this funding along with the Lyric Theatre as part of a new Bridport venues partnership.

“Whilst awarded to the Arts Centre, it has also been awarded to the Lyric and we are pleased to have spread it across Bridport.

“The revenue funding is really about running costs. It allows us to keep an annual program going – it is not specifically allocated but it supports all the work we will do over the next three years.

"All of us who work in the arts realise how fortunate we are in Dorset to be funded by our council. It is not a given, other councils are cutting their funding in arts and we are very fortunate."

Another Bridport-based recipient is The Bank of Dreams and Nightmares, a charity that offers free creative workshops to disadvantaged children from ages seven to 18 across west Dorset.

It has been awarded £5,000 a year and their director and founder Nick Goldsmith was delighted to have been selected.

He said: “We have had funding for individual project, but this is the first time for multi-year grant. It is a three-year grant so 15K in total.

“We are incredibly grateful to Dorset Council for getting the grant.  It shows we are doing something important and that we get the support to continue to do it.

“This is our first multi-year grant – as a new charity it means a lot.

“We want to grow and continue and offer more workshops to children in Dorset.”

Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre will also pick up £5,000 a year, and as one of the centre’s palaeontologists, Phil Davidson was pleased to have been given a share of the pot.

He said: “We are very grateful to the council; it will probably be spent on running costs – nothing too exciting or spicy.

“95% of the funds are generated internally, so it’s great to have support from the council for the 150,000 or so visitors we have every year.”

West Bay Discovery Centre has also been awarded £5,000 a year until 2027.