THREE Dunfermline venues are set to benefit from Scottish Government funding after being successful with grant applications.

Alhambra Theatre and Fife Cultural Trust both applied for support through the Performing Arts Venues Relief Fund.

The Alhambra have received £162,302 while the Trust, which runs the Carnegie Hall and three other Fife venues, have been granted £230,000.

The funding will help to remove the remove the threat of insolvency prior to the end of March next year to enable the development and delivery of activity as soon as practicable.

It will also allow for specialist and core staff to return from furlough or avoid redundancy to work on future sustainable activity plans.

The funding is also helping to increase commissioning and employment opportunities for freelance artists and creative practitioners (between now and end of March 2021) to support continued public engagement while closed.

These Fife venues are amongst 59 across Scotland sharing a total of £4.74million from a £5million open call that was awarded through Creative Scotland.

Iain Munro, CEO, said: “Despite the ongoing, detrimental impact that the COVID-19 pandemic is having on Scotland’s performing arts venues, and on culture as a whole, it is positive that we can offer some funding to help venues navigate these extremely challenging times.

"I’m also encouraged to see that this funding will help venues across many different parts of Scotland where they form such an important part of the cultural life of local communities."

Dunfermline live music venue PJ Molloys have also been successful through the Grassroots Venues Stabilisation Fund.

PJ's has received £17,672 from the emergency funding set-up to protect businesses from closure during the coronavirus pandemic.

Beverley Whitrick, strategic director at Music Venue Trust, said: “Music Venue Trust is grateful to Scottish Government for creating a ring fenced fund which recognises the vital role that grassroots music venues play in Scottish culture.

“There is still a lot of work to do to support these venues through the crisis but to see so many venues awarded short-term financial support is an incredible step forward.

"We thank Creative Scotland for working so hard to make this possible and involving us in shaping the fund so it could be targeted effectively.

"We look forward to working further with them."