A FOLKLORE festival and a drama group are among those in the running for arts awards.

Billingham Folklore Festival, on Teesside, and the Castle Players, in Barnard Castle, County Durham, are two of eight organisations being considered for grants by the Sponsors Club for Arts and Business.

The club, set up to award grants to first-time arts sponsors in the North-East and Cumbria, celebrates its tenth birthday at the end of the month.

To mark the occasion, it has decided to make awards of up to £5,000 to a handful of arts and business partnerships that were started by a club grant.

David Faulkner, director of the club, said: "Billingham Folklore Festival and the Castle Players are arts organisations with a proven ability to find and keep sponsors.

"These partnerships also show the willingness of sponsors to appreciate the value of the arts for marketing, as a way of putting something back into the community."

Billingham Folklore Festival, in its 37th year, has had Phillips Petroleum as a sponsor since 1976.

Based in the Old Well Inn, the Castle Players have been sponsored by the pub's parent company, Teesdale International Taverns, since 1996.

Award winners will be announced at the club's reception at the Gateshead Quays Visitors' Centre, next Monday.