The Welsh Assembly Government has announced that up to £300,000 could be made available to the 2010 National Eisteddfod Welsh language festival in Blaenau Gwent.

Leighton Andrews, deputy minister for regeneration, said that the cultural festival will receive financial assistance to ensure the whole Valleys region benefits from the event next year. The final amount of funding to be provided through the £140m Heads of the Valley programme, which has provided funding for local communities and councils to develop small and large-scale project designed to transform the region, will depend on the total raised through local sources.

It is also hoped that the festival will give people the chance to see how the region has transformed from its industrial past into a new tourist destination. A former steelworks site – The Works:Ebbw Vale – will host the event, which itself is the focus of a £300m regeneration project funded by Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council and the Welsh Assembly Government.