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Did anyone notice that on the BBC local news last night a small story about Burnley's Panopticon Sculpture, Singing Ringing Tree or whatever it is called? You know the one, the thing made out of a pile of scaffolding poles. Apparently, the perpetrators are now asking for a further seven grand before they can complete it. Inflation is a terrible thing. I fully expect that by the time the steering group get around to deciding which part of Accrington they are going to let Peter Beard desecrate there won't be enough left in the pot to afford so much as a shovel!

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I didn't know it was made from scaffolding poles.I'll give it a life span of no more than 3 weeks before the ****** - oops, "travellers" - nick it for scrap.

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The 1960's, Eastern European, children's classic television programme 'The Singing Ringing Tree', featured an evil little dwarf.

Will he be made out of scaffolding too?

If not, where can I send off an application for someone who would be perfect for the part?

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It wull probably have a little dwarf or garden gnome hanging from the scaffolding...or maybe a dozen hanging dwarfs.

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Actually, it's SEVENTY thousand that we're applying for (not a bean coming out of council taxes, by the way). Don't ask me which bodies we're applying to because at this exact minute I can't remember). We could make it on the funding that Burnley was initially given but because the Burnley steering group and the good people of Burnley seem to like the sculpture so much they want us to make it bigger!

And yes, at this rate Hyndburn could very well miss out on any of the funding. Plus any of the subsequent funding that it could attract.

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What Funding Gayle? 70 grand for what? Accrington looks like a kid walking round the neighbourhood with its arse hanging out of its trousers and you what to spend all that money on something that will bring nothing to the town.

I would also argue no matter how you twist it, this is still public money that’s being spent and it doesn’t end there what about maintenance cost’s over the years as well as the cost making the thing accessible to everyone who might want to see it. Not to mention the cost of consultation fees over time.

I understand this money is already allocated to the arts, etc. But surly we should be thinking of other things in Hyndburn than this.

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We're not talking about Accrington here we're talking about an extra £70k for Burnley.

It's almost irrelevant anyway because from what I understand Hyndburn's whole arts programme is going down the drain anyway. The Council, along with serving redundancy notices to the Community Wardens, are also letting the whole Arts Development team go at the end of March. HBC has also cancelled its subscription to Mid Pennine Arts so MPA are really cutting back on all the arts educational stuff in Hyndburn. So that means - no festivals, no education arts, no creative arts projects, no youth projects and by the looks of it no public art.

You might not like the Panopticon and despite all that I've tried to tell you about the benefits it might bring, it is fast becoming immaterial as the whole of Hyndburn is becoming a big black hole where creativity is stifled and discouraged. I firmly believe that an area is judged from the outside (and from within) on its culture and arts, or in Hyndburn's case quite clearly its lack of it. I know that I will not convince some of you that the sculpture was a good thing for the town but surely you can see that the total lack of arts in the town is a bad thing.

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I don’t disagree with either of you in respect of the alleged withdrawal of funding for Arts and Culture in Hyndburn. But correct me if I’m wrong Gayle in that not all funding comes from Mid Pennine and many interest parties will be able to continue to apply for funding from other sources.

On the subject of a Panopticon. I don’t believe that having an object stuck on the coppice is essential to attract funding into Hyndburn.

HBC have also shown a distinct disinterest in the history and heritage of the town and what it represents to us all. If one of these Panopticon’s had been built in Hyndburn there’s little doubt that it would have suffered from the same disinterest from council and that at some point removed.

Accrington doesn’t need props Gayle, it needs leadership and direction. This is not a personal attack, it’s an opinion. We need to be investing in people and in providing services that promote creativity and individualism and above all else Pride.

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Oh, Seventy Thousand. I stand corrected. That is even worse! Where is this extra funding being spent Gayle? Who gets it? Whose pocket will it end up in?

I do agree however with your comments about an Arts Crisis in Hyndburn.

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No, but for every £1 that HBC paid for their subscription to MPA they got over £5 back. Yes, other people would be able to apply for funding but no one else would give that sort of return. Plus, if you get rid of the Arts team that are currently employed by HBC, who is going to be applying for that extra money. The Arts Council will see that there is a distinct lack of investment in the arts in the area and they will not keen to put money in if they can't see any signs of self help.


Possibly not, possibly yes - in Rossendale it attracted a further £300k for the wider regeneration work at Top o'slate. In Blackburn it's part of a £1m revamp of Corporation park.

Well, actually I haven't got an argument on this one under the present regime. They're too busy selling everything off and handing out redundancy notices that there won't be much to manage soon.

I never saw it as a prop - just a signal to the rest of the country that we are open to new ideas, new change.

Yep, totally, totally agree with you. I know it's not a personal attack and I have the same opinion. Why do you think I'm doing what I'm doing at the moment?

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Price of steel - v. expensive and getting more expensive by the minute
Builders
Scaffolding
Diggers needed on site
Building up the dry stone wall around it
Sorting out the paths to redirect them
Insurance
etc

A lot of local people will be earning money out of this to get the work done.

The artist's fee is fixed whether it's five foot high or thirty five foot high.

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So are we all voting for the Lib Dems or the BNP?

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If the youth projects go thats more kids on the streets with nothing to do, who could in theory turn into vandals/graffiti artists which in turn would cost HBC more money long term.
My 7 year old loves doing drama and isn't bad at it but at £66 for 12 hours of lessons it's way out of my budget. It's a crying shame that there isn't the money for kids projects to give them new experiences unless your rich