9 August 2012 Last updated at 14:58 ET

Doncaster gets £2.5m to fill community arts gap

A South Yorkshire group has secured more than £2.5m of Arts Council England funding to encourage people in the community to engage with the arts.

Doncaster Community Arts (Darts) will use the money to create five art spaces including three "pop-up art shops" in Thorne, Stainforth and Hatfield.

It will also pay for artists to work on projects over the next three years.

Arts Council England said Doncaster fell in the "lowest 30% of arts engagement" bracket.

Elaine Hurst, from Darts, said the scheme would help the organisation reach wider audiences and tackle the "low levels of arts activity" in the area.

"We have now got the chance to make arts activity an integral and valuable part of people's lives in Doncaster and to define our own unique culture," she said.

"We'll be doing action research into what sorts of things that people would like to participate in, what arts activities are relevant to people, a whole mixture of things but it's also about what works here in Doncaster."

Arts Council England said it hoped the funding would enable "communities and grass roots organisations to play a leading part in inspiring others to get involved with the arts".