Following the announcement yesterday by Eden Arts that they would be driving the Winter Droving north to Carlisle after 14 years of holding the event in Penrith local reaction continues to condemn the actions.
Follow questions put to Westmorland and Furness Council by Penrith.Town news last week about the future of the event, a spokesperson for Westmorland and Furness Council has today said: “Westmorland and Furness Council has only recently been told of Eden Arts’ intention to stage Winter Droving in Carlisle this year.
“We are very disappointed by this news and the short notice given.
“The council has been a long-standing supporter of Eden Arts and has maintained its significant core funding support over many years, making Eden Arts one of the cultural organisations in Westmorland and Furness receiving the highest amount of cultural grant from the council.
“In addition, the council made a special one-off contribution towards Eden Arts’ programme from a Cultural Recovery Support Fund in 2023. The fund was set up that year to help organisations in Westmorland and Furness with the continued delivery of arts and cultural activities following the Covid pandemic.
“Following the announcement Winter Droving is to move to Carlisle, the council has contacted Eden Arts to seek reassurance that the core funding provided this year will be used to deliver activities in the Eden area, in line with the funding agreement.
“We are also reaching out to other organisations in the town, including the town council, BID and the Chamber of Trade, to arrange meetings to discuss the impact of this decision and to look at opportunities for the future.’’
In response to questions raised by us with Eden Arts about the organisation ps charity commission operating region status Adrian Lockhead director of Eden arts said “we have been trying to get that updated for a long while – you get the 'computer says we will need months' reply on it, you don't get to talk to a human. So it should have been updated but hasn't. we keep going back to them. EA board years ago changed the mems and articles to a broader remit and had thought we had this updated then. We noticed it was not updated on there a few months ago and as I say we have submitted via usual digital processes and await the updating to actually happen! It is actually all recorded via board papers, just the usual govt fog or dare I say inefficiency of these things. But rest assured it is all in order, but fair enough to ask.”
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