The York Early Music Foundation has been given a ‘lifeline’ £25,000 grant to help it recover from lockdown.

The foundation, which runs the National Centre for Early Music (NCEM) in York, says the grant from Arts Council England’s Culture Recovery Fund will enable it to press ahead with events planned for this year.

“We would like to say a huge thank you to Arts Council England for awarding us this much-needed grant,” NCEM director Delma Tomlin said.

“This support provides an important lifeline to help the organisation recover from lost revenue, ensuring that we can continue promoting our year round programme of events and to re-open our doors into the summer.”

Among the events that will now be able to go ahead is the Beverley & East Riding Early Music Festival in May 2021.

This will involve ‘both a small, socially distanced audience, a new online public and (allow us) to support local school-aged children to enjoy their music making', Delma said.

The festival, postponed in 2020, is acknowledged as one of the region’s cultural highlights.

The NCEM is just the latest York arts/ heritage organisation to confirm that it has received a grant.

Last week we reported that York Theatre Royal is receiving £324,000 from the Cultural Recovery Fund, while the York Archaeological Trust is getting £1.9 million.

YORK Museums Trust is to receive £423,226.