MORE than £3m of funding has been committed to the arts in Herefordshire for the next four years.

Arts Council England will be funding five organisations in the county through its new national portfolio.

NPO Status is given to leading arts organisations in the UK- four of the five in the county have retained their NPO status.

While The Rual Media Charity is a new entrant and will be given £986,000 during the four years.

CEO Nic Millington said: "We are a film and digital arts organisation and I think it is recognition of the digital role in culture. The funding will partly go to develop our digital arts centre so that other organisations in Herefordshire can take advantage of the technology."

Ledbury Poetry Festival, which this year starts on Friday, has been awarded £212,264.

Festival manager, Phillippa Slinger, said: "It makes such a difference to us. It just means we can plan strategically over the next four years."

The festival is an international event and audiences over the ten days add up to 10,000 people, with 6,000 visitors coming to the town.

The Courtyard in Hereford has been awarded £851,444, which will directly support artistic development both within the building and out in the community with a specific focus on developing talent.

The Courtyard currently has an extensive development programme which offers support and encouragement to young people through its Youth Theatre and outreach work within schools.

Ian Archer, chief executive, said: “The funding from Arts Council England is a crucial income stream to be able to continue all that we do as Herefordshire’s leading arts centre. The focus for the next four years is to do more engagement work and create more opportunities to access the organisation."

Arts Alive in Shropshire and Herefordshire was given £235,124. Arts Alive organises about 1,000 events a year including music, drama, dance, film, puppetry and storytelling and Flicks in the Sticks is the touring cinema branch of Arts Alive.

Director Sian Kerry said: "It just means we can keep going which would have seriously been in doubt if we hadn't got it. We can keep bringing live shows to little corners of Herefordshire and Shropshire."

The 2 Faced Dance Company Limited also kept its NPO status and will receive £768,000.

The company produces performance and participation programmes alongside a community dance programme.