ARTS groups and a community council in Swindon are benefiting from major cash boosts from two funding bodies.

The Arts Council England, South West has awarded more than £900,000 worth of grants to Swindon Dance and the Sixth Sense Theatre Group over the next three years.

The £55 million funding scheme is the highest ever level of investment by the agency, formerly known as Southern Arts, and comes after arts groups were threatened with council cuts last year.

Southern Arts warned top up funding would be withdrawn if the proposed council cuts went ahead, but the groups were saved after a 12.5 per cent rise in council tax last year.

Now the arts agency has more than doubled current funding levels.

Over three years, Swindon Dance will receive £714,000 and the Sixth Sense Theatre Group is to get more than £200,000.

Benedict Eccles, is director of the Sixth Sense Theatre Group, which produces and puts on tours of original theatre for young people.

He said: "Young people in and around Swindon will get a better experience of theatre and education through it, which is what we do.

"Organisations like Sixth Sense have been under funded for a significant amount of time.

"The funding will mean our work will have appropriate rehearsal time.

"We can employ the correct number of artists and enough administrative support to mean that our work will not suffer because of a lack of funds."

Meanwhile the Broad Street Community Council is to receive £10,000 over three years from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

The money will be used to facilitate the bringing together of the different ethnic groups living in the locality around areas of common interest.

Part of the project includes a multilingual newsletter aimed at creating a more cohesive community by sharing information about the neighbourhood with its readers.

Ward councillor John Taylor, (Central, Lab) helped put the bid together and said: "Obviously we are delighted.

"As well as the £10,000 we get access to expert advice and guidance from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which has built up many years of research.

"Lots of initiatives work from the top down in terms of regeneration and neighbourhood renewal, but the foundation assists the community to do it for themselves."