Image: £20m has been made available for small grants

Arts and culture organisations have been urged to apply for grants between £100,000 and £499,999 to improve their facilities.

The funding has been made available as part of Arts Council England's (ACE) £234.6m capital investment fund.

In total, £20m of National Lottery money has been budgeted for small capital grants to address the needs of organisations whose plans to improve their existing buildings and equipment do not involve large-scale work.

There will be two funding rounds, with £12m budgeted for 2012-13 and a further £8m available in 2013-14.

The new grants are an expansion of ACE's current programme which offers organisations the opportunity to apply for larger grants of £500,000 or more.

Alan Davey, chief executive, Arts Council England, said: "The Arts Council understands that like any trade, artists and performers need the right tools and facilities to effectively deliver and develop their craft and audiences need places where they can properly interact with the art or performance.

"Our capital investment programme is a very practical way of helping to develop the arts infrastructure in this country so that organisations can flourish and continue to produce the excellent work that audiences want to see."

For more information and instructions for how to apply, click here.