River & Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames. Photo: River & Rowing Museum ©

19 November 2021

In a press release from this morning, River & Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames announced that it will receive an award from the Government's latest Culture Recovery Fund.

The Museum has been facing enormous challenges in the COVID era and needs vital investment to secure its future. By receiving £151,134 from the Government's latest Culture Recovery: Continuity Support Fund, River & Rowing Museum will avoid closure and to realise its ambitions as an important creative hub of the community.

"We're absolutely delighted to receive this vital grant for the River & Rowing Museum. This will enable us to protect the Museum's future – growing our invaluable supporter network through an essential CRM system and through investment in the training of our wonderful volunteers," River & Rowing Museum Director Cathy Pütz said in a statement. "We look forward to working closely with our communities – opening our collections wide, sharing more objects and their stories, and together facilitating a community space for wellbeing, creativity, and celebration of the river and the natural world."

The Museum is among 925 recipients across the country to benefit from the latest round of awards of more than £100 million from the Culture Recovery Fund.

"Culture is for everyone and should therefore be accessible to everyone, no matter who they are and where they're from," Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said. "Through unprecedented government financial support, the Culture Recovery Fund is supporting arts and cultural organisations so they can continue to bring culture to communities the length and breadth of the country, supporting jobs, boosting local economies and inspiring people."

More than £1.2 billion has already been awarded from the unprecedented Culture Recovery Fund, supporting around 5,000 individual organisations and sites across the country ranging from local museums to West End theatres, grassroots music venues to festivals, and organisations in the cultural and heritage supply-chains.