Sorry - having keyboard problems here! That should have been, bugger I've just lost the long reply I was writing to Ruth. Can't do it again ... suffice to say I was relating problems in getting funding from the Arts Council for anything that's not innovative and hits their diversity etc targets ... which tradarts/folk can rarely do.

They simply continue funding their traditional recipients such as the big orchestras, ballet, opera and theatre companies who cannot exist without funding and for the rest ask you to hit various buttons which are foisted on them by the Government. Sadly folk music isn't one - unless you've got a project which is new and different. They rarely fund anything which is just ongoing.

It's a big problem for us in Cumbria: we can't play the numbers game (rural county: sparse population) or hit the BME button (about 1% ethnic minority here). We always have to be very creative in the way we apply for Grants for the Arts funding ... folk/tradarts needs to be creative in just the same way. Migh be better though to stay out of the arts funding labyrinth!

Sue