Aberystwyth Arts Centre has been handed nearly £600,000 of funding.

It has been confirmed that the arts centre has secured additional funding from Arts Council Wales to help with the financial challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The additional funding (£599,448) was announced as part of the Welsh Government Cultural Recovery Fund to support arts organisations and institutions in Wales during the coronavirus pandemic.

According to arts centre director Dafydd Rhys, this additional funding is vital to maintain the centre over the coming months, as the Covid-19 pandemic persists.

He said: “This is an unprecedented period.

“Although we’ve been running a number of online activities, the centre itself has essentially been closed since mid March and this has had a damaging effect on our financial situation.

“Aberystwyth Arts Centre is an important focus of the arts in Mid and West Wales and it’s a stage to artists and performers of all ages, and it will have a key role to play as we proceed to rebuild the sector following this immensely challenging period.”

The arts centre was also successful in its bid for funding to improve its digital networks.

This will enable the centre to present an electronic tickets system, as opposed to printed tickets, and will strengthen the arts centre’s digital platform for online classes.

Since September the arts centre’s dance classes have continued online and there are plans in place to offer more creative sessions in various disciplines this way.

Theatr y Werin will also be adapted to be a cinema space, as the arts centre’s main cinema auditorium is not large enough to account for the required social distancing.

Mr Rhys added: “In addition to being a centre for the arts, it’s also an important focus for the local community here in Aberystwyth, and to the university, and this additional funding helps us bridge this extraordinary and challenging period and to maintain those services which are so central to the artistic life of this region.”

The arts centre has recently faced another challenge since late summer after extremely heavy rain fall caused flooding which damaged its wooden flooring.

The work to install new flooring continues, with the hope that work will be completed by the start of 2021.