MORE than £1million has been earmarked for organisations which promote culture, community, music and the arts across Hampshire in the next financial year.

Councillor Keith Chapman, executive member for culture and recreation at Hampshire County Council, set aside £1.06m in grants.

Cllr Chapman has awarded £983,117 to culture and community groups and £70,000 to Anvil Arts, which runs The Anvil, The Haymarket and The Forge, in Basingstoke, and to Turner Sims, in Southampton.

He also granted £6,000 to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra to work with Hampshire schools, and set aside £15,000 to help more organisations achieve greater efficiencies and reduce their ongoing dependency on grant funding for the long term. This latest round of financial support, for 2013-14, follows an extensive review carried out last year of all grants given by the county council to cultural, recreational and community organisations.

Groups are being encouraged to apply for support in the 2014-15 financial year and applications from around 40 groups have already been received.

Cllr Chapman said: “We have worked with the organisations themselves and asked them for their views of how funding could be awarded in a more sustainable way to help them, in the longer term, to continue their work in local communities, and how this should be prioritised.

“As a result, and in recognition of their important role in supporting our work, particularly in the current economic climate, we have modernised and streamlined the council’s grant application system.

“In this way, we are able to continue to provide these groups with financial backing despite the ongoing financial pressures that the public sector faces from reduced levels of Government funding.

“This new process provides a fair and level playing field for all organisations that apply for funding in future to better meet the needs of local communities.”