[Gayle]

There are a few issues at hand here - we could use the analogy 'if a tree fell in the forest with no one around, does it make a sound?' The thing about the Arts Development team and their projects is that you Garinda possibly wouldn't come into contact with them, although you could if you wanted to but -

Are you a young teenager who is interested in acting at the new Hyndburn Youth Theatre that they are developing and trying to get built?
Are you someone who is interested in setting up your own business in an Arts related arena?
Do you need to help in filling in an Arts Council application form on knowledge about other start up grants and funds?
Are you someone who would like to learn how to DJ, play drums, dance, act etc and would benefit from professional guidance?

The answer is probably no. So the Arts development team probably wouldn't come on to your radar but that doesn't mean that they are not out there working with a great number of people who will miss them if they go.

One fault that the Arts Dev team have is that they are not particularly good at making front page news, in fact, like most artists and people working behind the scenes in the arts they shy away from taking centre stage. They don't publicise what they do they just get on and do it. This is a fault and if they had made more of a splash perhaps more people who weren't actually involved would take more notice. The fact is that people who are involved are very annoyed and upset that this is going.

They are working with communities that want to work with them. They are organising events, activities, and creative endeavours for a great number of people on a daily and weekly basis.

Another issue is that the council hasn't given the team time to bed in, most of them were only in posts that were funded for a year or 18 months. So they've just got started, they arranged a lot of events last year but now the rug is being pulled from under them before they get to build on the work they've done so far.

Finally, you are also possibly confusing the Arts Development role with the person who books acts for the local theatre. It is not Arts Development team who book professional acts to come to our town.

It is a great loss to the town and like I've said before, it's not going to matter very much who's managing the town after May because the current regime are selling so much of it off that there will be nothing left to manage.